An Easy One-Pot Method for Vegetarian Meals

Vegetables, beans and grains stocked in your kitchen are very similar to Woody, Slinky Dog and the opposite well-loved toys within the film Toy Story. They might not be as flashy as Buzz Lightyear, the brand new plaything in the home, however these old style characters reliably work collectively to make their human completely happy. (That’s you.) Greens, beans and grains do the identical factor on this one-pot method by cooking collectively to create vibrant, sustaining vegetarian meals.

The mixture of snappy greens, creamy proteins and fluffy grains shouldn’t be solely scrumptious, however reasonably priced and healthful. “Whole grains, greens and beans are a few of the most nutrient-dense meals on the planet,” writes Gena Hamshaw, a licensed nutritionist, in her forthcoming e book “A Grain, a Green, a Bean” (Ten Speed Press, 2025). “And when these meals are mixed, they turn into much more powerfully nourishing.”

This streamlined and adaptable method makes it straightforward for a cook dinner to get right into a groove of making ready do-it-yourself meals. Beneath the lid of a lined pot, grains simmer and the steam swirling from them slacken greens simply till they’re vividly inexperienced, whereas already-cooked beans and their seasonings get up from the residual heat.

To begin, decide any grains you want. For a mixture of textures, use a number of grains that cook dinner for a similar period of time. Long-grain white rice and quinoa, a seed that acts like a grain, are the quickest mixture; sorghum and wild rice take longer however provide nice nuttiness and chew. You can cram extra taste into the grains by including floor spices or chopped aromatics to the cooking liquid, which will be inventory or coconut milk as a substitute of water.

When the grains are practically prepared, layer bite-size items of inexperienced greens on prime and canopy once more. The steam’s mild warmth will soften the greens whereas sustaining their pure sweetness. Asparagus, inexperienced beans, frozen peas and different spring greens ought to go in over the past three to 5 minutes of the grains cooking, darkish leafy greens must be added within the final 5 to seven and broccoli florets within the final 10 to fifteen.

As for the protein, select any cooked legumes, together with beans, lentils and soybean-based choices like tofu, tempeh and edamame. Before you scatter them into the pot, coat them with a bit fats. A sauce like peanut sauce or Jamaican jerk seasoning paste, or perhaps a drizzle of olive oil with garlic offers persona and sheen.

Tofu is one other nice protein possibility for this cooking technique.Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.

You can eat this grain bowl scorching, heat or chilly, by itself or brightened with only a squeeze of lemon. You can also garnish it wildly with crunchy toasted nuts or seeds, cooling yogurt or one other sauce, recent mushy herbs or briny olives or pickled peppers.

It’s straightforward to repeat this pot of beans, greens and grains with out tiring of the dish due to its flexibility. After all, the mixture has sustained the globe in classics like Hoppin’ John and collard greens, chickpea saag with roti or rice, Persian greens, bean and noodle soup, tofu fried rice, inexperienced rice and beans, minestrone and Spanish chickpeas with spinach and breadcrumbs.

We’ve bought a good friend within the trio of greens, beans and grains. Even once they seem asleep on the shelf, they’ll shock us: Switching up your routine will be so simple as cooking dusty staples in a brand new manner, and this one-pot method does simply that.

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