My aim is to incorporate beans as a part of my daily menu (because that’s what the longest lived and healthiest people on earth do) and hence I’m looking for the tastiest and most delicious ways of enjoying beans.

My first experiment was to fry up diced capsicum, add four bean mix, spices (nutmeg powder, cumin powder, chilli powder, curry powder), sriracha sauce, and lastly, coconut oil.

Tastes pretty good. It’s a hearty dish with lots of flavours – leaving me feeling satiated and content. Would also taste good on a toasted slice of sourdough, or in some flat bread with lettuce or other fresh vegetable (eg. tomato, cucumber). I’ve been enjoying the dish as part of a mixed bowl – one part beans; one part staple (rice or pasta); one part vegetable (had eggplant today).

I’ll be repeating this recipe but with variations. From my experience of trying this recipe, I think the key to having varied and diverse bean dishes might be to incorporate all of the five categories below, but varying the items in each, every time.

1. Vegetable (capsicum, onion, cucumber, zucchini, celery, carrot etc)

2. Beans (four bean mix, fava and chickpea mix, kidney beans, black beans, legumes, etc)

3. Spices / herbs / flavours (nutmeg, cardamon, ginger, garlic, curry powder, fennel, turmeric, lemon juice, salt, pepper etc)

4. some form of fat (I used coconut oil, but sesame oil, or other oils would work too, or maybe even just smashed avocado).

5. optional chilli (sriracha sauce, laoganma chilli oil; basically, favourite chilli sauce or oil)

Next, instead of inventing my own, I’ll actually follow a recipe for a bean dish to the letter, and see if I like it.

15-07-07

Food:

  • Breakfast: oats, mixed frozen berries, dried inca berries, chia seeds, milled linseed, soy milk, pepitas.
  • Lunch: broccoli ‘cheese’ pasta (cauliflower, onion, broccoli, green beans, pasta, nutritional yeast, garlic, turmeric, nutmeg, soy milk, tofu, lemon juice, black pepper, white pepper, Dijon mustard, chickpeas); eggplant (eggplant, tomato paste, curry powder, nutmeg powder, maple syrup, coconut oil); beans (four bean mix, nutmeg powder, curry powder, coconut oil, sriracha sauce, lemon juice, capsicum).
  • Dinner: pho noodles
  • Other: B12 supplement; two apples, half a rockmelon.

Exercise

  • Easy pace, about 2.5 hours of riding all up. Around 56km. Strava data here and here.