I’m worried that edamame beans have ideas above their station. They bounce across the chopping board in their taut skins and high protein content for all the world as if they are bodybuilders on a beach, rather than what they really are, i.e. a legume. If there was ever a vegetable to fat-shame other vegetables, it’s edamame beans. Streamlined and bright green, they literally couldn’t look any healthier, and what makes it worse is that they’re delicious! Come to (edama)me.
If we really wanted to humble edamame beans – they’re so full of themselves that they even hang out in the freezer aisle, not tins like the rest of the beans – we would refer to them by their unflattering childhood nickname: ‘soybean’. Less a name, more like an affront, like shouting OY! According to foodsmiths Jamie Oliver and Dr Rupy Aujla, soya contains all (or almost all) of the essential amino acids, which means you can fling edamame at a bowl of rice noodles with vegan impunity.
And actually, whilst we’re on the subject of soya, I think I should fly the flag for tofu. Most people take against tofu on the grounds that it is rubbery or tasteless. Silken tofu is even more peculiar, having the mouthfeel of wet chalk and the flavour of nothing. But on the other hand, it requires next to no prep whatsoever: do you have to spatchcock a tofu? Do you have to de-bone a tofu? Do you have to render the fat off a joint of tofu? No. Plus, you can get organic British tofu these days so the cows can gander with vegan impunity.
Whilst tofu is more readily available and proportionally more protein-rich than edamame beans, an edamame bean is still a delightful thing to eat in its own right. Whereas unsullied tofu at best has a flavour which we could describe as ‘bland’ – chicken breast without meatiness, salt without saltiness – edamame beans have a plasticine-like grassy taste with an undertow of vegetable mineraliness, which is offset quite nicely, in this popular salad of my mother’s, by peppery radishes, sweet peas and a zingy dressing.
Edamame salad dressed hot to trot with crunch, colour and contrast. Serves 4 lunchboxes. Eat with pasta or bulgur wheat to make more of a meal of it
- Boil 300g frozen edamame beans and 300g frozen garden peas (petits pois are too small for this) for 4-5 minutes until they are cooked. Drain and let sit in the pot for a bit to air-dry.
- Wash and finely slice 4 medium spring onions (or 1 if it’s a chunky round-bottomed one). Wash and slice 100g radishes however way you like. Make a salad dressing with 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, 1/2 tsp ground pepper and 1 minced clove of garlic. If you need to add a bit of sweetness, drizzle in a bit of maple syrup or similar.
- Stir all the ingredients together in a big bowl, season and serve as a glamorous side dish to a Sunday roast. You could also zest the lemon from the dressing and add the zest too.
Notes: Not everybody tolerates chilli. Fortunately this, as with all recipes which use chilli as a spice, can be made just as easily without chilli and have no discernible flavour difference. After all, chilli has a nasty habit of killing your tastebuds anyway.
