Cooking Dried Legumes

The form of a legume determines its optimum cooking method. A whole bean, like kidney beans, chickpeas, or black lentils, requires soaking before you cook it. Split legumes, like yellow split peas, split green lentils, or salmon-colored split brown lentils, do not require soaking and thus may be your best bet when you are looking for a speedy, vegetarian-friendly meal on a harried evening. It’s always a good idea to wash legumes before you use them, to rid them of dust, loose husks, or other alien matter (I have included washing instructions in each of the recipes that instruct you to do so).