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Many of the recipes in this book call for canned beans. The reason is simply that unless you have a pressure cooker, cooking dried beans takes an awfully long time, which may be acceptable if you are cooking for a family but not for a single person. Unlike vegetables, which lose vitamins (not to mention flavour) when canned, protein is not lost in the canning process, so canned beans are as nutritious as freshly cooked ones. Admittedly they can be high in salt content, and some British brands add sugar as well, but it is easy enough to rinse the beans off before using them. There is no doubt, however, that canned beans work out a lot more expensive than dried ones, so if money is more important than time then by all means use home-cooked beans instead of canned ones: a small can or half a large one is equivalent to 2 oz (55g) dried beans, and an ordinary can to about 4 oz (115g).

Butter (lima) beans and red kidney beans are available in small cans, which obviates the need to use the other half of a can later in the week. All other beans are available only in larger cans so I have used them in two recipes in the relevant week. The beans not used in the first recipe should not be left in the can but transferred to a jar and refrigerated until required.

Certain pulses – e.g., lentils, aduki beans, split peas, and black-eyed peas – are not readily available in cans and are quite quick to cook so in those cases the dried varieties are called for.