26 May 2013

Good 4U - Lentil Pea & Bean Shoots.


The drink I reviewed on Thursday smelt a little like compost - this product looks like it should be planted in it!

When I received a box of essentially juvenile bean-sprouts I really didn't know what to make of it.  Did I eat them like grapes? Stir fry as they suggested? Or just use as a Vegetarian (vegan!) topping?

As you probably guessed from the picture I decided to go with one of the cuisines I know uses lots of beans and cook Mexican style.  In our house we are a big fan of the OldElPasso (or cheaper store brand alternative) dinner kits.  Bung wet fajitas in the microwave, stir fry all of the things and then add them to the salsa for a take-away grade meal for less money and only slightly more effort (these are pretty quick too).

But I mean - what's a carnivore supposed to do when presented with the below other than get creative!


I know that these are just the step between the 5 variety baked beans andbean-sprouts  fundamentally so all it took was a bit of recipe creativity to find them a home.

I didn't think to take pictures of them post cooking but we made them up as you'd expect and chomped away.

Their natural flavours were a bit swamped by the mexican spices but the texture was more interesting than just using veggie mince or quorn strips.  I'm sure that these are much healthier than baked beans due to the reduced sugar and freshness too.

The remainder of the box were left for another meal of vegetarian Spaghetti Bolognaise. Before making this I tried a few without cooking or sauce.  The flavour was a bit too overpoweringly bean like for me, but I can understand the appeal.  The Dolmio bolognaise sauce was less overpowering than the spicy Mexican fare and these bean-like flavours added to the taste quite well and the texture was more exciting than just with Quorn alone.

I didn't think these would be that easy to cook with and worth the effort, but they were surprisingly hastle free.  I think that I could see myself using these as a 'fresh' version of Quorn and adding a little variety to the protein part of my veggie cooking.  Well worth a try!

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