Firstly, vegans eat way more than fruits and vegetables. Bear in mind that vegan food is any food that does not contain animal products. And while this can be tricky in this day and age when animal products are weirdly included in all sorts of processed food, 😕, sticking to mostly whole foods can help with that.
In addition to fruits and vegetables,which we should all me getting more of, vegan also eat beans, grains, nuts and seeds.
In addition to fruits and vegetables,which we should all me getting more of, vegan also eat beans, grains, nuts and seeds.
One of my go-to recipes involves beans, relatively cheap and easy to find. Some examples of beans are black beans, kidney beans, soy beans, lentils, split peas, chick peas, pigeon peas, butter beans, black eyed peas, and the list goes on.
Whew, that was a lot. Now when most of my friends think of beans, they either think of them as part of a rice dish, i.e. rice and peas, which is a fixture of Jamaican cuisine and very, very good. This dish is made with red kidney beans especially for Sunday dinner or with gungo peas at Christmas. Beans also conjure up images of soups (good ole red peas soup), and stews (dangerous? stew peas).
Now while these are all perfectly lovely uses for beans and the dishes can be veganized, let's not sell the beans short. They are capable of so much more.
For this dish, the bean in question was the black bean.
First of all, black beans rank low on the glycemic index (GI), a measure of the ability a food has to raise blood glucose levels. Food high on the GI release glucose into the system quickly followed by a rapid drop in glucose levels. This is generally considered not good for our bodies and can have adverse effects such as increasing the risk of adult onset diabetes, causing sugar cravings as well as mood swings. In contrast, foods low on the GI release glucose at a more tempered rate and keep blood glucose levels nice and stable. Yay for stability! 😃. This is great for overall health, and even more so for persons with diabetes and those at risk of developing cardio vascular disease.
Secondly, black beans are antioxidant rich. Antioxidants are substances which protect cells from free radicals which cause cellular damage. This in turn can cause chronic and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, heart disease and several types of cancers. And black beans are filled with the antioxidants we need to keep these diseases at bay.
In addition, black beans also contain lots of fibre (yay for regularity! 😃) as well as a very important trace element, molybdenum, and yes, it does contain protein.
So basically black beans are awesome and we should all try to incorporate more into our diets.
There are many ways to prepare these beans, in stews, curries and soup.
I usually buy the dried beans, soak them in water overnight and then cook them slowly for a few hours, similar to how some Jamaicans boil red kidney beans.
For this dish, I boiled the beans with dried cilantro, and some cinnamon leaves (don't ask me how, but I honestly thought they were bay leaves when I used them).
After the beans were nice and soft, I drained the water and allowed them to cool. I then crushed the beans and added lots of herbage, dried parsley, basil, more cilantro, some granulated garlic and onion as well as some cayenne pepper and some salt. I also added some whole wheat flour to help it all come together. I then formed the mixture into balls and placed them in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, I took them out, fried them up and voila, some super tasty, good for you and totally vegan "meat" balls,
Whew, that was a lot. Now when most of my friends think of beans, they either think of them as part of a rice dish, i.e. rice and peas, which is a fixture of Jamaican cuisine and very, very good. This dish is made with red kidney beans especially for Sunday dinner or with gungo peas at Christmas. Beans also conjure up images of soups (good ole red peas soup), and stews (dangerous? stew peas).
Now while these are all perfectly lovely uses for beans and the dishes can be veganized, let's not sell the beans short. They are capable of so much more.
For this dish, the bean in question was the black bean.
First of all, black beans rank low on the glycemic index (GI), a measure of the ability a food has to raise blood glucose levels. Food high on the GI release glucose into the system quickly followed by a rapid drop in glucose levels. This is generally considered not good for our bodies and can have adverse effects such as increasing the risk of adult onset diabetes, causing sugar cravings as well as mood swings. In contrast, foods low on the GI release glucose at a more tempered rate and keep blood glucose levels nice and stable. Yay for stability! 😃. This is great for overall health, and even more so for persons with diabetes and those at risk of developing cardio vascular disease.
Secondly, black beans are antioxidant rich. Antioxidants are substances which protect cells from free radicals which cause cellular damage. This in turn can cause chronic and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, heart disease and several types of cancers. And black beans are filled with the antioxidants we need to keep these diseases at bay.
In addition, black beans also contain lots of fibre (yay for regularity! 😃) as well as a very important trace element, molybdenum, and yes, it does contain protein.
So basically black beans are awesome and we should all try to incorporate more into our diets.
There are many ways to prepare these beans, in stews, curries and soup.
I usually buy the dried beans, soak them in water overnight and then cook them slowly for a few hours, similar to how some Jamaicans boil red kidney beans.
For this dish, I boiled the beans with dried cilantro, and some cinnamon leaves (don't ask me how, but I honestly thought they were bay leaves when I used them).
After the beans were nice and soft, I drained the water and allowed them to cool. I then crushed the beans and added lots of herbage, dried parsley, basil, more cilantro, some granulated garlic and onion as well as some cayenne pepper and some salt. I also added some whole wheat flour to help it all come together. I then formed the mixture into balls and placed them in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, I took them out, fried them up and voila, some super tasty, good for you and totally vegan "meat" balls,
For this dish, I added some cooked veggies, slices of cucumber and some bread that my sister had made.
These can be used as a meat substitute, not only is it much cheaper but you can flavour it how you want and know that you are giving your body good food.
These can be used as a meat substitute, not only is it much cheaper but you can flavour it how you want and know that you are giving your body good food.
No comments:
Post a Comment