Mung beans and red lentils - best for all doshas

Types of pulses

There are pulses from all round the world; with many variations in the way they are cooked – from curries to stews, dips to soups.

Pulses tend to be astringent in taste and dry and light.  Astringent is one of the 6 tastes of Ayurveda, the one which is often lacking in our diets.  Mung beans and red lentils are good for all doshas but the other pulses may aggravate vata if eaten in excess or without adding digestive spices and oil.

	Name	Ayurvedic properties*	Type	Effect on doshas (V – vata, P – pitta, K – kapha)*
BEST FOR ALL DOSHAS (EASY TO DIGEST WITH FEW SIDE EFFECTS)
	Mung beansmoong beans, green gramwhole green or split yellow	Sweet, astringent, cooling, dry, easily digestible	Dry bean	V down P down K down(~)
	Red lentilsand split masoor dal	Astringent, sweet, cooling, dry, easily digestible	Lentil	Vata ~ P down K down
VATA PACIFYING (GROUNDING, OILY, STRENGTHENING)
	Urad dalurid dal, black gram, mashawhole black or split beige	Sweet, heating, oily, slightly heavier for digestion, strengthening	Dry bean	V down P up K up
GENERALLY KAPHA AND PITTA REDUCING, VATA INCREASING
	Pigeon pea  (split)tur dal, toor dal, aadhaki	Astringent, cooling, dry, easily digestible**	Pigeon pea	V up P down K down
	Pinto beans	Astringent, cooling, slightly heavier for digestion	Dry bean	V up P down K down
	Common beans (white and black)haricot beans, navy beans, cannellini beans, black turtle beans	Sweet, astringent, dry	Dry bean	V up P down K down
	Butter beanslima beans		Dry bean	V up P down K down
	Aduki beansazuki beans, adzuki beans	Sweet, sour, astringent, cooling, dry, slightly heavier for digestion	Dry bean	V up P down K down
	Split or whole peas (yellow or green)matar dal (yellow, split peas)		Dry peas	V up P down K down
	Chickpeas (white, whole)garbanzo beans, kabuli chana	Sweet, astringent, cooling, dry, slightly heavier for digestion	Chickpeas	V up P down K down
	Chickpeas (whole, brown/black) bengal gram, kala chana	Astringent, sweet, cooling, dry, easily digestible	Chickpeas	V up P down K down
	Chickpeas (split, brown/black) chana dal, gram dal.Also powdered to make gram flour (besan).	Likely same as whole brown/black chickpeas	Chickpeas	V up P down K down
	Black-eyed pea black-eyed bean	Sweet, astringent, slightly heavier for digestion	Black-eyed pea	V up P down K down
	Common brown lentilsalso common green lentils, puy lentils, whole masoor dal	Sweet, astringent, cooling, easily digestible	Lentils	V up P down K down
	Kidney beansrajma	Astringent, sweet, warming, easily digestible	Dry bean	V up P down K down***
	Soy beanssoya beans and milktofu	Sweet, astringent, cooling, oily, heavy for digestion Sweet, astringent, very cooling, oily, heavy for digestion	Not strictly pulses but included as often taken as pulses	V up P down K upV ~ P down K ~

*Qualities and doshic effects taken from Bhavaprakasha and Vasant Lad.
**Bhavaprakasha has the properties of pigeon pea as opposite to those of Lad.  This could be a difference between split versus whole, or the difference between the oily and the dry version.  These properties listed here are from Bhavaprakasha.
*** Bhavaprakasha has different properties of kidney beans to Lad.  These properties are from  Bhavaprakasha.

Cooking pulses  – how to reduce the ‘music’

Most people think of wind when they think of pulses, and sometimes rightly so.  There are quite a few pulses which increase vata, which essentially equates to increasing wind.

There are two main factors which can reduce this effect. One is acclimatisation: if we gradually increase the amount of pulses in our diets, starting with a small amount, taking care to have plenty of fluids, our gut gets used to them and digests them better.  The second is to follow a few simple tips in how we cook our pulses.

To reduce the wind-making propensity of the vata-increasing pulses (most apart from mung beans, red lentils and urad dal), follow these tips:

• SOAK CORRECTLY. Always soak pulses according to the instructions on the packet.  Soaking not only starts the rehydration process but also helps remove the components which can make them difficult to digest.  If the soaking time is long, change the water once or twice.  Do not use the soaking water to cook the pulses.  Use a 3:1 water:pulse ratio.  Generally lentils and most split pulses don’t require soaking whereas other whole pulses do.  If you want to be very thorough and/or you suffer from lots of wind with pulses, pour hot or boiling water over the pulses, drain and repeat, three times in an hour and then leave to soak.  If you haven’t remembered to soak the pulses, bring them to the boil for 2 minutes, leave for 1 hour to soak (if you have time, you can even skip this step), tip out the water, reboil again with fresh water.
• COOK THOROUGHLY. Cook the pulses thoroughly, as undercooked pulses are more difficult to digest.
• COMBINE WITH HERBS, SPICES AND OIL. Always eat pulses with plenty of culinary herbs and spices to help digest them (especially hing – asafoetida, ajwain and fennel .  Others such as cumin, coriander, fresh ginger etc also help).  Make sure there is plenty of healthy oil in the recipe or added afterwards as this also mitigates the vata (saturated oils such as ghee or coconut oil or unsaturated ones such as virgin sesame or olive).
• ADD A PIECE OF KELP. Add a piece of kelp to the boiling pulses and then throw away afterwards. The kelp helps absorb the components which causes a lot of the gas.

Other pulse cooking tips

• DON’T ADD SALT UNTIL THE END. Do not add salt until the end of cooking pulses.  Salt will prevent the inside of the pulses from becoming tender as it toughens the skins.  Acid ingredients such as tomatoes or vinegar (neither of which come highly recommended in Ayurveda!) also have the same effect.  Other seasonings such as garlic, onion, ginger, herbs and spices may be added to the cooking water right from the beginning.
• SKIM. Skim off the white scum that floats on the surface with a slotted spoon.
• KIDNEY AND SOYA BEANS: boil vigorously for ten minutes at the beginning of cooking to destroy toxins.
• RINSE. If using canned pulses, drain and rinse thoroughly in cold water before using.
• AVOID BAD FOOD COMBINATIONS. Ayurveda recommends avoiding certain food combinations to enable our digestion to work at its best and to avoid creating toxins in the digestive system.  Don’t combine pulses in the same meal with eggs, milk, yoghurt, cheese, meat or fish.  If you want to have dairy with your pulses to increase protein consumption, eat them at different meals in the day.
• GET FULL PROTEIN. To get the full requirement of protein in any 24 – 48 hour period, you will need to have grains (especially whole grains) or nuts and seeds as well as the pulses within that period.  To understand more about proteins, read here.

http://theayurvedapractice.com/pulses/