Pulses, Hummus
Few people salivate over the prospect of a plateful of beans like they might over pigeon wrapped in bacon with an apple and cognac sauce.
It is difficult too to make of them a work of art comparable with Gary Rhodes' food towers.
The 17th century botanist Nicholas Culpeper thought chickpeas less windy than other pulses. To Culpeper pulses are plants of Venus, which suggests something of an estranged mind. Bean flour boiled to a poultice with wine and vinegar, "and some oil put thereto, eases both pains and swelling of the privities", he said but I don't care to test it.
Here are one or two other ideas of what to do with them.
Wikipedia says this about it: "Sultan Saladin's experiments with hummus purportedly resulted in the creation of the Sultan's Forty Spice variety, which spawned many imitations and has been a Middle Eastern favorite for centuries.
Some claim that in the Middle East, the age and quality of a family's hummus recipe is a sign of social status. Connoisseurs can allegedly identify a family's lineage simply based on the household's daily hummus. For example, traditionally religious families are renowned for the high garlic content of their hummus, which, according to folklore, originated as a way to keep young men and women separated.
Hummus is often garnished with mushrooms, parsley, paprika, pine nuts, tomatoes, cucumber, thinly-sliced onions, or more chickpeas, and then drizzled with olive oil before serving."
Here's a link to a video of hummus being made.
Pulses and beans contain saponins and saponins are thought to be useful in managing cholesterol. The foamy scum that develops when you heat beans indicates the presence of saponins, which are also found in olives and grape skins.
Saponins are being investigated for their anti-cancer properties, which is the kind of claim these days that leads to the big yawn. Another anti-cancer ingredient! A quick sconce at the US National Cancer Institute's website, www.cancer.gov, confirms, indeed, that they too believe in saponins.
The isoflavones in pulses are a weak form of oestrogen and are thought to compete with the body's own oestrogen at oestrogen receptor sites, in effect blocking the body's stronger version and its potential downside when over-expressed, i.e. tumour growth.
This is one of those extraordinary examples where the weak triumph over the strong, a moral for people who believe in the law of the jungle.
Scientists speculate that isoflavones could be effective against breast and prostate cancers.
And beans help diabetes suffers to lower blood sugar levels.
What do they do to your weight? Boiled chickpeas are classed as a low GI food. Adding olive oil definitely ups the calorie content, as does sesame paste, so go sparingly with both. An option is to use chana dahl instead of chickpeas if you want an ultra-low GI load. There is a recipe at this site here. Making hummus is as as easy as this.
You Need
1 tin chickpeas or 200 grams dry weight chickpeas
2 Tbs tahini (a paste made from sesame seeds)
For variation substitute 2 tbs of lime chutney
2 cloves garlic
2 - 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
You can also use a variety of spices like cumin and coriander.
Chickpeas need soaking overnight. The soaking water should be thrown away and the chickpeas boiled for a short while and then simmered for around 3 hours.
One variation is to simmer the chickpeas with a whole onion and a clove or two in the water. The chickpeas emerge with an exotic flavour and combine well with cumin and parsley in the blender.
In a blender combine the cooked chickpeas and other ingredients and blitz until smooth. Keep tasting along the way.
To make different flavoured hummus is no more difficult then combining the soft simmered chickpea with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, two or three cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of your favourite chutney, a tablespoon of chopped coriander and lemon juice to taste.
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