Year of Pulses: Sprouts for New Year's Day

The United Nations has declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses. So eat some pulses: lentils, chickpeas, beans and peas.

Like these lentil sprouts. Toss them in a salad. Sandwich them with cream cheese. Scramble them in eggs. Make a lentil burger. Lentils are quite good for you, but they're a whole different kind of good once they're sprouted.

If you start these lentils on December 27 you'll have a fresh batch of lentil sprouts for January 1. So kick off the New Year with some healthy greens. In solidarity with the world.
 
Start with a big pickle jar or something similar. Add 1/4 cup brown lentils. Ordinary brown lentils from the grocery store or, if you're a Saskatchewan farmer, from the granary.

Day 1: Soak 1/4 cup brown lentils in water for a couple hours. Drain. Give the jar and good shake and lay it in a sunny window.

Day 2, 3, 4, 5: Sprouts are rinsed and drained once or twice a day. You can cover the jar with muslin to drain the water or just use a strainer.

Day 4: Sprouts are looking good.

Day 6: Eat!
 

Ancient legacy of the lentil - Lentil Cookies

There’s an old adage in Greece about not adding “myrrh to the lentil soup” because myrrh is too fancy for a humble bowl of lentils. A culinary overkill. Ancient Greeks preferred more simple flavourings such as vinegar and sumac (which grew wild) or olive oil and salt.

They boiled the lentils until they were soft and thick for a soup called phakes (or fakes), a dish the Romans called puls, from which we get the botanical word pulse to describe legumes such as lentils, chickpeas and peas.

The Romans believed lentils were restorative and good for your health. Their famous physician, Hippocrates, prescribed a lentil diet as a tonic for liver fatigue and, amazingly, modern science has backed this up.

The oldest archaeological evidence of lentils for dinner was found on the coast of Greece at a place known as the Franchthi Cave, circa 13,000 years ago.

These were wild lentils. The cave was home to a group of hunter-gatherers but over time they moved out of the cave into a small village by the Mediterranean Sea and took up farming.

By 6500 BC they were growing wheat, barley and lentils – the same domesticated grains that have been farmed in the Middle East for 10,000 years.

Eventually, due to global warming, the sea level rose until it covered their village and fields, which were discovered by archaeologists exploring the cave in the 1960s.

It is interesting to note that with the spread of farming westward from the Middle East, those three grains – wheat, barley and lentils – spread together. Though lentils were late coming to Western Canada (more than a century after wheat and barley) it is barely a breath in terms of historic time.

What was once the breadbasket of the world is now the lentil basket of the world. No nation produces more lentils, of more varieties, than Canada.

However, as Canadian lentil production was rising, Greek farmers were growing fewer lentils, preferring instead to plant crops that qualify for agricultural subsidies from the European Union (which, apparently, lentils do not). According to an online source, farmers in Greece grew 12,700 tonnes of lentils in 1961 and just 2,000 tonnes in 2011. Now they buy lentils from us.

For all I know, I was eating Canadian lentils just the other day when I ordered a bowl of lentil soup in a restaurant in Athens. It was rich and fragrant, seasoned with tomato, carrots and parsley. Simple and delicious, the perfect restorative after a long day of travel and airport food. As much a part of Greek history as the Acropolis.

Despite its ancient pedigree, new varieties of lentils are still being developed. The small black lentil is a Canadian invention, according to Bert Vandenberg, a plant scientist at the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. He says it was bred at the research farm at Indian Head, Sask.

Some enterprising chefs noted that it resembled the black caviar of the Beluga sturgeon and, voila, black Beluga lentils began appearing on trendy menus.

While I’m a big fan of old-fashioned lentil soup, I also like a new food trend. This cookie recipe fits that bill – a delicious new way to enjoy the ancient legacy of the lentil.

Chocolate Lentil Cookies

Small black or brown lentils look deceptively like chocolate chips in these delicious cookies.

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked small black or brown lentils
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup quick oats

Cream the butter, sugar and lentils. Some of the lentils will puree and some will remain whole. Mix in the egg, vanilla and milk. 

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda, adding to the batter with the oats until well blended. 

Drop by the spoonful onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350F for about 15 min. Allow cookies to cool slightly then remove to a cooling rack. Makes about 30 cookies. 
 

(This article first appeared in Grainews.)

Canadian Food Project - A cookie fit for harvest

My dad was very particular about harvest suppers. Unlike some farm families, who stop the combine to eat a hot picnic supper in the field, my dad did not stop for anything. Short of a breakdown, the combine -- with dad on it -- operated nonstop from morning to near midnight.


Dad had one requirement for his harvest meals: that they be eaten with one hand. Sandwiches were de rigueur. Carrot sticks were ideal. An apple a day. Cookies were the perfect ending. Un-iced cake (no fork required) was a good substitute.

So, while we kids enjoyed harvest suppers of, perhaps, chicken and corn on the cob and a piece of cake with ice cream, dad was gulping down his supper before the next turn at the end of the field. Chicken sandwiches tomorrow.

This cookie was not in my mom's repertoire all those years ago, but I'm sure it would have met my dad's approval. And the kids' too. The black lentils look deceptively like mini chocolate chips.

Chocolate Lentil Cookies
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked black lentils
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup quick oats
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk

Cream the butter, sugar and lentils. For the most part, the lentils will remain whole. Mix in the egg. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Spoon the cookie batter onto baking sheets by the heaping teaspoon. Bake at 350F for about 15 min. Allow cookies to cool slightly then remove to a cooling rack. Makes about 34 cookies.

Visit the Canadian Food Experience Project for more harvest stories and recipes from foodies across the country.

Prairie Kitchens - Yakhnit 'Adas

Who were the first farmers to grow lentils and chickpeas on the Saskatchewan plains? The Arab pioneers.

In 1923, Jiryas Sallum, left his village in Syria with the dream of farming in Saskatchewan. A year later, he was joined by his wife Shams and their two sons. They homesteaded south of Swift Current in an area where several other friends and relatives had already settled. Shams kept a large garden and did her best, with some improvisation, to prepare the familiar foods of the old country. This included yogurt, burghul, lentils, chickpeas, flat breads and honey desserts. They ate very well – and very different – compared to their European neighbours.

One of their sons, Habeeb, recalled how self-conscious he was of their strange foods. As a schoolboy, he longed for an ordinary bologna sandwich on white bread. But years later, he credits his family's good health through the Dirty Thirties with the ancient, healthy foods of his ancestors as prepared by his mom.

Today, Saskatchewan farmers have discovered lentils and chickpeas. Canada is now a leading supplier to the world. Perhaps it should be no surprise as wheat originates from the same place – Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Palestine. Wheat was the first "settler" from the Arab lands.

Habeeb published his memories and his mom's recipes in a charming cookbook called Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead. Yakhnit 'Adas is a pioneer recipe every bit as much as perogies and Shepherd's pie.

Yakhnit 'Adas
(Lentil and Meat Stew)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 lb beef or lamb in 1/2 inch cubes
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small hot pepper, finely chopped
1 cup lentils
5 cups water
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the meat and sauté for 5 min. Add onions, garlic and hot pepper. Cook 10 min. Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer over medium heat until the lentils and potatoes are cooked, stirring occasionally, about 1 1/2 hours. Add more water if needed. Serve hot.

Do you have prairie recipe with a story? Send me a comment. Follow at twitter.com/prairiefeast.

This column first published in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

The Pulse of Food Day Canada

Pulse : the edible seeds of various crops (as peas, beans or lentils) of the legume family; Middle English puls, probably from Anglo-French puuiz gruel, from Latin pult-, puls, probably from Greek poltos.
First known use: 13th century. -- Miriam Webster online

Best known use: Food Day Canada dinner at Boffins Club on Thursday evening!

Steelhead trout with chickpea crust and a dill & lentil cracker

Rosehip seared breast of duck with mustard lentil pickle and a stook of romaine with a camelina birch balsamic vinaigrette

Calico baked beans with cherry-honey braised pork belly and a crostini with Herschel Hills Cendres de Prairie cheese

Rhubarb crème brulée, truffle mousse on a black bean brownie (wrapped in chocolate), fried vanilla bannock and

seabuckthorn compote 

 

Thanks to Saskatchewan Pulse Growers for inviting me to this lovely dinner to celebrate Food Day Canada and two food celebrities, Anita Stewart (founder of Food Day Canada) and Al Slinkard, university plant scientist and indefatigable promoter of pulse crops in Saskatchewan. It was a memorable and inspiring event!

Canadian Food Project - A Regional Food

Saskatchewan is known as the breadbasket of Canada. It is not known as the lentil basket of Canada – but it should be!

 

Saskatchewan is now the world’s largest producer of lentils. One reason for this advance is the agronomics of pulse crops (a category including lentils, chickpeas and split peas).

These plants add nitrogen to the soil, which is an essential plant nutrient. Farmers who plant pulse crops one year will use less synthetic fertilizer the following year. This is a big cost saving and good for the soil. (Also essential in crop rotation for organic farmers.) Add to that, there is a growing world market for these foods – every day, in countries from India to Spain to Columbia – families sit down to a meal of lentils grown in Saskatchewan.

 

The sad fact is, people in Saskatchewan don’t eat them! Well, not nearly enough. Sure they might throw a handful into a pot of soup, but very little of the lentils grown in Saskatchewan are eaten close to home. That is changing as home cooks begin to experiment with new recipes and their families come to love them.

 

One of my favourite ways with lentils is to sprout them. Especially in winter, sprouted lentils provide a nutritious “green” for salads and sandwiches at a time when fresh local greens are in short supply. (As local as your window sill!) You’ll find easy sprouting instructions on my food blog Home For Dinner.

 

Lentil Sprout Wrap

2 tsp minced onion
2 tbs mayonnaise
1 tbs plain yogurt
1/4 tsp each ground cumin and coriander
dash of salt and a few grinds of pepper
3 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup lentil sprouts
Chopped lettuce (optional)

4 whole wheat wraps

Mix everything together except the lentil sprouts and lettuce. Gently stir in the sprouts. Roll in whole wheat wraps with lettuce, if using.

This is my second post in the Canadian Food Experience Project in which participants across the country share stories of our unique food experiences. 
 

Lentil Supremacy

Did you know...? Saskatchewan is the world's largest producer of lentils, recently surpassing India. Nowhere on earth are so many different kinds of lentils grown on such a large scale. Read more about local lentils in my food column in today's Star Phoenix.

Saskatchewan grown lentils (l-r): French Le Puy, split red lentils, black Beluga lentils, green lentils and red lentils.

Chocolate and Black Lentil Cookies

Black "Beluga" lentils look like chocolate chips in these cookies.

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup cooked black lentils

1 egg

1 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup quick oats

1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk

Cream the butter, sugar and lentils. Some of the lentils will puree and some will remain whole. 

Mix in the egg. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. 

Spoon the cookie batter onto baking sheets by the heaping teaspoon. Bake at 350F for about 15 min. 

Allow cookies to cool slightly then remove them to a cooling rack. Makes about 34 cookies.

How do I love lentils...

... let me count the ways.

#1 - Lentil sprouts on a tuna salad sandwich. Sprouting the lentils adds a whole lot of nutrition to an already nutritious food, plus turns a tuna salad sandwich into a vector for my local diet.

I discovered this lovely combination last week while taking the Food Bank Challenge. My food hamper included a tin of tuna and enough lentils to feed a battalion.

Want to sprout your lentils? Follow these instructions.

Lentils Anyone?

Someone asked me recently, "Where do you source Saskatchewan-grown lentils?" The good news is, any lentil for sale in the grocery store (canned or dry) that is labelled a 'Product of Canada' is primarily grown in Saskatchewan. Currently, there are three kinds of lentils in my pantry:

Red split lentils (centre)

Diefenbaker Seed Processors of Outlook packages lentils under its label Kashmir Valley. I purchased these at the Medina grocery store on Central Avenue in Sutherland. See the Kashmir Valley product list. 

Small green lentils (right)

These were included in my food basket when I took the Food Bank Challenge earlier this month. According to the Food Bank, they were donated by a local farmer.

In have also sourced green lentils from Grandma Lou's, which are grown and packaged on the McDougall farm near Moose Jaw.

Black 'beluga' lentils (left)

These were a gift from a farmer. However, you can buy these and other lentils at the SaskMade Marketplace on 8th Street in Saskatoon.

Tomorrow... one of my favourite ways to enjoy lentils!

Soup Week 42 - Grandma Lou's Lentils

Grandma Lou is a good cook, and she has the lentils to prove it.

Grandma Lou (aka Louise McDougall) farms with her family near Moose Jaw. They have packaged their lentils, chickpeas and flax under the label of Grandma Lou's, complete with recipes.

I made Grandma Lou's lentil soup, but since I can't stand to follow recipes, I substituted chanterelle mushrooms for the potatoes and instead of celery, I used carrots (orange and yellow), then spiced it with a bit of cumin. Voila - délicieux!

Check out Grandma Lou's website for purchasing information.

A humbling experience

It's rather humbling when a chef decides to cook your recipe and it turns out way better in the chef's hands!

Chef Moe Mathieu and his sous chef Lindsay featured the lentil salad from my book Prairie Feast  at an event at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market yesterday. But he jazzed it up with extra lemon juice, a piece of Saskatchewan perch en papillote (in parchment paper), a drizzle of cucumber juice and by cooking the lentils in duck stock. (Like we all have duck stock idling in the frigo.)

The event was sponsored by the Saskatchewan Environmental Society as an opportunity to promote its upcoming Sustainable Gourmet dinner on October 2. I read from Prairie Feast, Moe and Lindsay cooked (well mostly Lindsay, as Moe is on crutches these days...) and we all ate very well.

Here's shot of Lindsay chopping cilantro. Did you know (according to Moe) that half the population likes cilantro and the other half hates it? I'm definitely in the like category!

Photos courtesy Judy Montgonery of the SES.

Lentil and Cucumber Salad

2 cups cooked lentils
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped
1 cup cucumber, diced
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing
1/2 tsp each cumin, coriander, mustard seeds and peppercorns
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

To make the dressing, toast the whole seeds in a hot dry frying pan. Grind them to a powder in a spice grinder. Whisk the spices with the other dressing ingredients and stir into the lentils. Make this ahead of time so the flavours have plenty of time to mix and mingle. Just before serving, mix the lentils with the other salad ingredients.

PS: Lentils should be cooked until they are just soft to the bite. A nice middle ground between crunch and mush. Depending on the type of lentil, this will proabably take 20-30 minutes. The liquid can be water or stock (meat or vegetable), with a bay leaf or a sage leaf for flavouring.

Make the dressing while the lentils are cooking. After draining the water, mix the dressing into the warm lentils for maximum absorption of the flavours. Cool the lentils before adding the rest of the ingredients. At the end, Moe added a good dose of lemon juice for extra zing.

Soup Week 14 - Lamb and Three Lentil

This week's soup is Lamb and Three Lentil - brown, green and little red lentils. All grown in Saskatchewan, of course.

Technique:
Chop one onion, several cloves of garlic and a few carrots. Saute on medium low in a couple big glugs of canola oil until soft. While cooking, stir in dried crumbled sage and thyme.

Add the lentils - about two cups in total, maybe a bit more. Turn up the heat to medium. Stir lentils so they're well coated with onins and oil until they're shiney and starting to stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add a meaty lamb bone. Cover generously with water (I used homemade lamb broth). Boil, then turn heat down to a simmer for an hour to more. Skim the foam off the top a couple of times. Add more water as it cooks down. After a good simmer, turn off the heat and cool soup down. Remove the lamb; pull the meat off the bone, cut into small pieces and put the meat back into the soup.

Reheat the soup. Flavour with salt and pepper to you taste. Yummm.

Lentils win gold at Olympics

I hear that Saskatchewan lentils are a big hit at the Olympics in Vancouver! This might explain why the Saskatchewan pavillion is so popular.

Lentil burgers are on offer in the pavillion and extra goodies are being handed out at the pulse kiosk. (Pulse is the technical word to describe lentils, chickpeas, peas and beans.)


February 25 is lentil day at the Saskatchewan Pavillion with the addition of a Greek lentil salad.

Amanda Olekson of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers reports: "We have recipe booklets and a lentil brochure with information on the health benefits of lentils that we are going through like crazy, as well as a sheet listing where you can buy lentil based products and lentils in Canada."

Here's a picture from the lentil kiosk at the Olympics. Go Lentils!

Brad Wall likes chickpeas

Brad Wall has publically divulged his passion for chickpeas. And so he should, seeing as he hails from prime chickpea growing country. In the latest issue of PulsePoint magazine, the premier of Saskatchewan divulges his family's favourite chickpea recipe: Mediterranean Chickpea Salad. I made it and it's delicious (although, given the season, I substituted fresh herbs for dried). Read all about it here.

"Saskatchewan chickpeas are Number 1," declared the Premier (at least, that's what I think he was saying at the moment this image was shot).

.

The same issue of PulsePoint included an article about my love affair with pulses, including sample menues. You can read it here.

Local chickpeas and lentils

I've just discovered a neat little shop on Central Avenue in Sutherland which stocks a good supply of Saskatchewan-grown lentils and chickpeas under the label Kashmir Valley. The store is called Medina Foods and Halal Meats. (Halal food is prepared according to Islamic law). It's small but friendly and full of things you won't find in a regular grocery store. As for Kashmir Valley, it's packaged and sold by Diefenbaker Seed Processors of Elbow. Medina Foods is at 800 Central Avenue (the NW corner of Central and 108th).

LENTIL SPROUT WRAP

We got back from vacation five days ago, just long enough to grow a batch of lentil sprouts. We didn't have a lot of food in the fridge (I was too busy to shop, if you can believe that!) so I created this easy and healthy sandwich filling with Saskatchewan ingredients we had on hand.

2 tsp minced onion
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp plain yogurt
1/4 tsp each cumin and coriander
dash of salt and a few grinds of pepper
1/2 cup lentil sprouts
3 hard cooked eggs, chopped

Mix everything together. Serve in a whole wheat wrap. (Note: we made 3 wraps with this amount of filling.) To grow your own lentil sprouts, see the instructions here.

Fresh greens - GROW YOUR OWN LENTIL SPROUTS

Is it -30 again?!#%? I might go crazy if not for that spot of green growing in my kitchen window. Sprouts are an excellent way to get fresh greens in the dead of a Saskatchewan winter. It takes about 5 days to grow a batch of sprouts. Here's a batch of lentils on Day 1: Soak for a couple hours in a jar of water. These are ordinary brown lentils purchased from the grocery store.

Day 2: Sprouts are rinsed and drained twice a day.

Day 4: nicely sprouted

Day 5: Eat!

Got a pulse?

Here's Chef Simon Reynolds cooking up a hill of beans at the annual Pulse Days in Saskatoon.

(Pulse is the name for a class of edible legumes including beans, chickpeas, lentils and dried peas.)

Can you guess these muffins are full of beans?

What did I learn at Pulse Days?

▪ Saskatchewan is the world's second largest producer of pulse crops.

▪ India is the only country that grows more pulse crops than Canada.

▪ India is also Canada's biggest pulse customer.

▪ Indians are eating fewer pulses than before.

▪ Canada is looking for new markets for our pulses.

▪ Have you had your pulse lately?

Pulse facts - with recipes

In case you were wondering...

Here are some facts about the recent travels of Canadian pulse crops, most of which were grown in Saskatchewan:

• Pulse crops include peas, dry beans, lentils and chickpeas. (Pictured: product from Diefenbaker Seeds)


• About 25% are used here at home. Brand names for processed beans, lentils and chickpeas include Primo, Unico, Clic and Heinz.


• The remaining 75% of pulse crops travel to more than 170 countires.


• 90% of split peas go to India. Top countires for the remaining 10% are China, Cuba, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, U.S., South Africa, Pakistan, Columbia and Belgium.


• 50% of dry beans go to the U.S. and U.K. The remaining top ten customers are Angola, Italy, Dominican Republic, Japan, Portugal, Greece, Chile and Mexico.


• 50% of chickpeas go to the U.S., U.K., Italy, Pakistan and Spain. The next top five are Jordan, India, Columbia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Chickpeas go to about 60 countires.


• 45% of lentils go to Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt and Columbia. The rest go to 92 other countires.


• In 2007, this export was valued at more than $1.3 billion.

These stats come from the January 2009 edition of Pulse Point, magazine of the Saskatchewan pulse industry. Read the full article here.

I also have an article in this edition of Pulse Point on the fabulous cherry chickpea chocolate. Read it here. There's also a page of recipes -- I'll definately be trying the mixed slaw with apples and lentils.