12 Recipes for The International Year of Pulses

Find out what the International Year of Pulses is all about, plus dive headfirst into 12 fantastic, healthy recipes with pulses! Thank you to USA Pulses and Pulse Canada for helping me to share this post with you.

So, what’s the deal with The International Year of Pulses (IYP)? Well, let’s first start with a recap of what pulses are exactly. Pulses are a category of superfoods that includes chickpeas, lentil, dry peas and bean varieties. I’ll bet you didn’t know those were called pulses, did you? Don’t worry – neither did I until they started hitting the news when the United Nations declared 2016 the IYP. (If you haven’t already, pop over to take the Pulse Pledge. Join almost 25,000 other people in committing to eat pulses once a week for 10 weeks!)

Why eat pulses?

Quite honestly, I would happily eat pulses for their versatility, texture and flavor alone. What other category of food can you think of that can be made into hummus, soup, curry, savory cakes, ground into flour for flatbreads and used in baking? Now that’s versatility!

Pulses are referred to as superfoods for very good reason. They’re a stellar source of fiber (4 times more than brown rice), folate (3 times more than kale), iron, potassium and antioxidants. To cap things off, pulses are gluten-, sodium- and cholesterol-free.

Affordability is another thing that pulses have going for them and one of the reasons they are considered to be an international food. Looking at U.S. costs, one serving of lentils is $0.10, in comparison to $0.64 for chicken, $0.73 for pork and $1.49. It’s not wonder that pulses are a staple in countries around the world!

As for sustainability, they require little or no irrigation, have one of the lowest footprints of any food group and naturally enrich the soil where they grow. Convinced yet?

For more information on nutrition, versatility, sustainability and affordability, be sure to check out the information on the Pulse Pledge site.

If you’re new to cooking with pulses or want to branch out from your usual recipes, I have a fantastic list here that will inspire you to dive headfirst into the world of pulses.

The recipe => Indian Spiced Chickpea Flatbread {Socca}