[Madame Cholet]

Any good books on the subject people can recommend please or your own ideas, especially using pulses, things that can be prepared the night before and left on all day.

chears

[Janeymiddlewife]

Hi Rachelk, I don't have any recipes, only a note of caution. According to the vegsoc website, pulses being cooked in a slow cooker
: Pulses must be soaked and boiled for 10 minutes before being added to a slow cooker, as they do not reach sufficiently high temperatures to destroy the toxins.

HTH
Janeymw

[madcat]

I do a lot of stuff with lentils ....  they add body to veg casseroles and curries.  I boil soaked kidney beans for 10mins and drain and rinse before adding to chillis as you would (to remove the toxins) if you were going to cook it on the top.  In fact anything you would simmer on the top works in the slow cooker ...

No ... must mention the one failure I have had.    Split peas in ham stock for Erwtensoep (dutch pea and ham soup) doesn't work in the slow cooker - it think it was too salty.  The peas remained like bullets. 

[noshed]

The good thing about slow cookers is the veg don't get mushy so I would cook root veg of all sorts and then bung a tin of eg chick peas in. You would have to be careful with cooking dried beans, particularly red kidney, so there would be an argument for having a pressure cooker as well...

[TheSpartacat]

I've never done beans from pre-soaked in my slow cooker- Maybe I'm overcautious but when simmering them even on a v low heat, they always seem to need continuous topping up with water as they absorb SO much... makes me nervous about leaving them unattended.
So I always always cook them first, so they have done all the absorbing of water and are softened, and simmering is quicker than a slow cooker.

Also, two things you can't mix with beans in the early stages of cooking are sugars and acids, and i think salt- as they will make the beans just stay tough!!!

So that means any of the ingredients that would be obvious to add to make the sauce, like tomatoes, or treacle, or wine... you can't add anyway until the beans are softened... so its not a "come home and the beans are ready" kinda thing.... Its more of a "come home and add the flavour to the beans and then wait another couple of hours" kinda thing!!

If thats what you're hoping for then i'd just opt for tinned beans like cannelini, butter etc for the slow cooker. Less faffing about!

[Poolfield2]

I like chestnuts in my veggy casseroles, I buy them dried then cook the whole pack and loose freeze them then when I'm doing a casserole I just bung a handful in, (defrosted first or they slow things down too much)

[mumofstig]

I'm with Poolfield, in as much as I bulk buy dry beans, cook them all at once and then freeze.

So easy to use then

[Madame Cholet]

Problem is freezer is full this time of year. I guess I could cook them the day before and throw them in from the fridge in the morning. I've never risked red kidneys dried I use home grown borlottis, chick peas butter beans etc. Will they stay whole if  cooked all day

I've got a couple of rose elliot books I guess I could cook any recipes there if I adapt them.

[TheSpartacat]

Have you looked at the Moosewood cookery books? I've got one and really love the recipes... though they do use a lot of dairy.
Here's a nice squash stew I tried of theirs in the slow cooker and it turned out nice:
http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/recipes_archive.html

They might have others that would compliment the addition of pulses?

[Ice]

The gospel according to the vegetarian society is as follows.

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/pulses.html

[Yorkie]

That is really helpful, thanks Ice 

[Madame Cholet]

Thank you both I'll have a look

[Ice]

I am here to serve.

Actually, I eat vegetarian food quite often despite being a committed carnivore.  I think it gives me more energy.

[Madame Cholet]

Thank you Sparta cat the moosewood website looks fab will have a longer look next week
my mouth's watering already uuummmmmmm!