Nutritional quality of microwave-cooked and pressure-cooked legumes

Eight whole legumes, namely Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum), broad beans (Vicia faba), Cowpea (Vigna catjang), field beans (Dolichos lablab), green gram (Phaseolus aureus Roxb), horse gram (Dolichos biflorus), lentils (Lens esculenta) and French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), were cooked under pressure or in a microwave oven and were analysed for nutrient composition. Raw legumes served as control. The range of nutrients analysed in 100 g cooked samples were as follows: moisture, 62.8-69.7 g; protein, 14.7-24.3 g; fat, 0.9-5.9 g; ash, 1.7-4.6 g; iron, 3.3-8.6 mg; calcium, 50-209 mg; phosphorus, 249-429 mg; and thiamin, 0.14-0.32 mg. Cooking methods did not affect the nutrient composition of legumes. However, thiamine decreased in cooked samples. Cooking altered the dietary fibre content of some legumes. The mean in vitro protein digestibility of pressure-cooked and microwaved samples was 79.8% and 74.7%, respectively. The in vitro starch and protein digestibility of pressure-cooked samples were higher.