Cooking with Puy Lentils :)

Ingredients:

• Lentils
• Broccoli
• Egg
• Mushrooms
• Sardines
• Avocado
• Vegetable stock powder for flavour

Just chopped up mushrooms and broccoli (added vege stock powder), washed them and cooked in an oiled pan. Added the lentils, which could be eaten without cooking them.

(click here for Merchant Gourmet Puy Lentils)

Cracked the eggs and mixed it in. Added the sardines and finally after cooking, chucked the avocado in.

Benefits from buying and eating puy lentils:

1. Great source of vegetarian protein
2. Good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber
3. Manage blood-sugar disorders because of their high fiber content
4. Long shelf-life (dried ones especially like several years; when opened they can be kept in an air-tight container for up to a year)
5. Easy to cook – they do not need to be soaked before cooking, but it is better to do so

Cons of eating puy lentils or beans:

1. Phytic acid is an anti-nutrient abundant in beans, grains and nuts. It can dramatically reduce the absorption of important minerals, leading to deficiencies over time.
2. They contain trypsin inhibitors that can inhibit protein-digesting enzymes
3. They can contain a class of toxins called lectins that can damage the digestive tract

*Toxins may be reduced/eliminated through proper soaking. Click the last link in resources to understand one method in doing so.

Read here for more in depth about beans in general.

Resources:

• Health benefits of lentils: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=52
• Lentils, a precaution: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/real-food-vii-lentils.html