The Capsule Kitchen

Learn how to create your very own capsule kitchen. A pot of beans or grains can be like your favourite pair of jeans and form the basis of your meals throughout the week, to be dressed up or kept simple. These quiet cupboard superstars are transformed into dressed up show-stoppers or reliable, warming bowls of comfort for all the family.

In your capsule kitchen just one pot gives you myriad meal options that are good for your health, and for the planet. Jenny Chandler shows you how to make pulses and grains the basis for hundreds of suppers, lunches, snacks, sides dishes, and even desserts.

One of the great advantages of legumes and cereal grains is their versatility so there’s certainly no chance of monotony. Just consider a chickpea: crispy snack, hummus, creamy soup, spicy chana chaat, smoky Spanish stew, or even a nutritious addition to your morning smoothie. The Capsule Kitchen covers chickpeas, lentils, dal, black beans, cannellini, borlotti, flageolet and haricots, carlin peas, whole grains, polenta, rice and quinoa.

Including:

• Tips for cooking, storing and freezing pulses and whole grains.

• Over 100 recipes to take your basic ingredients around the world – with plenty of flexibility and swap-in options to suit.

• Free-wheeling formulas for putting together your own brilliantly balanced plates.

The Capsule Kitchen gives you recipes that can be easily adapted for seasonality and availability, helpfully illustrated with bold, graphic depictions.

Recipes include: Chickpea chaat salad with rhubarb; black bean brownies; cheesy rice frittata; quinoa and coconut porridge with star anise-poached plums; zaalouk and rice stuffed aubergines and roast tomato and white bean gratin.

Hugely versatile, great for your health (and for your wallet) this is the book to revolutionise your approach to pulses and the way you cook – giving you the skills and confidence to use these beans and grains as the starting point for your meals throughout the week.

About the author

Jenny Chandler is a hugely respected cook and food writer, based in Bristol, UK. She teaches at several cookery schools, including Leith’s, and trains chefs to focus on more veg-centric, sustainable menus in the contract catering sector. After a year as The United Nations FAO European Ambassador for the International Year of Pulses she has spoken at numerous international events, campaigning for more nutritious and sustainable food for all.

She is the author of Pulse, Super Pulses, Cool Kids Cook, Green Kids Cook and The Real Taste of Spain (all Pavilion) as well as A Good Appetite (National Trust). Her instagram @JennyChandlerUK focuses on approachable, sustainable cooking.