Rohini Bajekal Nutrition
  • < Pre-order book
  • Home
  • Work with me
    • How I can help
    • Voluntary Roles
  • Why Plant-based?
  • Blog
    • Complete Library
    • Plant-based Lifestyle
    • Recipes
    • Women’s Health
    • Rohini’s Recommendations
  • Media Appearances
  • Events
  • Contact
Bowl of beans, tomatoes, hummus and avocado
August 14, 2020 by Rohini Bajekal
Plant-based Lifestyle

Add Salt, Vinegar and Lemon to Beans After You’ve Cooked Them!

I always thought that you should season as you go along. But the first time I made dal, my mum told me not to add salt as the lentils bubbled away. It’s well known in India that adding salt to lentils actually increases their cooking time.

How Salt Affects Digestion

I have lots of tips for improving digestion when you introduce legumes to your diet. However did you know that adding salt too early can affect digestion? It causes the outer lining of beans and lentils to harden, which makes them less tender and digestible. It’s best to cook dried legumes until they can be mashed easily with the back of a fork. Then season to taste.

How to Reduce Sodium Content

Most of us are consuming far too much salt so seasoning at the end or when food is served can also lower salt intake. I add lots of herbs, spices, vinegars and lemon to my food, eliminating the need for excess salt.

Adding acidic ingredients like lemon too early can affect the tenderness of the legumes. I always wait to add lemon when the lentils are slightly cooled and ready to serve, to preserve the vitamin C content in the lemon.

Do you eat legumes regularly? What is your favourite pulse or bean to eat?

Previous article5 Benefits of Homemade SmoothiesSmoothie BowlNext article 5 Reasons to Include Chickpeas in your DayBowl of chickpea falafel

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Meet Rohini

Hey there! I’m Rohini, a nutritionist (MA Oxon, MSc) providing evidence-based advice to my clients around plant-based eating. While working in branding and marketing for food startups over the years, I discovered my passion for making plant-based foods more accessible to people.

Related Posts

  • 5 Ways to Make Pasta Dishes More Nutritious and Filling
    5 Ways to Make Pasta Dishes More Nutritious and Filling

Wanna be social?

Looking for something?

Categories

  • Articles
  • Breakfast
  • Desserts
  • Main meals
  • Plant-based Lifestyle
  • Podcasts
  • Recipes
  • Snacks
  • Soups
  • Videos

Tag Cloud

apple breakfast calcium cauliflower dog treats healthy living hydration legumes oil free pasta peas plant-based plant-based protein plantbased porridge pregnancy protein rice snacks water wfpb wholegrain

Follow me on instagram

…
© 2020 Rohini Bajekal Nutrition ♥ Proudly built by ninagrey.org
Privacy Policy

About This Sidebar

You can quickly hide this sidebar by removing widgets from the Hidden Sidebar Settings.