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Jaipur - February 19, 2016 - A team of students from the Institute of Hotel Management in Bangalore have won an Indian-wide food competition for developing innovative dishes using pulses. Alok Prasad, Aseem Kumar, Harsh Bansal, and Saurabh Agarwal used adzuki beans, red split lentils, black gram and other ingredients to create “Adzuki Coins” a wonderful new snack.
Judged in a competition during the Pulses Conclave in Jaipur, India, hosted by the India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), students from across the country entered creative new uses of pulses as food ingredients. “The depth of the innovation and creativity was striking,” said Pravin Dongre, Chairman of the IPGA. “It was an honour to recognise the team from Bangalore among the 36 entries initially received. This is one step on the nutrition side of food security and IPGA will also be working to increase productivity in pulses in India – a vital issue to national and international food security.”
“There is really a bright future for the Indian food sector,” said Dr. Chris Lannon of the McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics in Canada. McGill and the International Development Research Centre of Canada facilitated the contest in conjunction with IPGA and the Global Pulse Confederation. “We supported this effort to raise the profile of pulses and to foster young food science talent in India. With outstanding entries from all regions of India, it was clear that there are exceptional young thinkers working on new uses for pulses.”
The #LovePulses Products Showcase is being held in countries around the world to better illustrate the role for pulses in new and creative ways. Pulses are a vital part of the world’s food supply, and the goal is to further their use as a great source of protein, fibre and micronutrients. The United Nations declared that 2016 is the International Year of Pulses and it couldn’t be a better year to focus on the role of dal, gram and beans. In recognition of the year, IPGA and ICRISAT this week also signed a memorandum of understanding to increase research and improve pulse yields.
Six finalists were brought to Jaipur for the competition representing the winning team from Bangalore plus the Institute of Hotel Management, Sri Shakti, Hyderabad; D.Y. Patil University, School of Hotel Management and Tourism Studies, Mumbai; Institute of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Bahir; National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Sonipat ; CT Institute of Hotel Management, Punjab.
The winning recipe was:
ADZUKI COINS
Institute of Hotel Management, Bangalore
Ingredients
Adzuki beans 25 gms
Red split lentil 30 gms
Black gram 10 gms
Quinoa 10 gms
Nuts 15 gms
Greens 5 gms
Spices
Method
- Soak all the pulses overnight
- Blanch all the nuts and greens
- Cook quinoa and dry it.
- Boil all the pulses separately.
- Take a vessel, add Adzuki beans, red split lentil, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, greens, nuts, black pepper corns, caraway seeds, garlic, green chili, olive oil and seasoned with salt and white pepper powder.
- Make a paste out of the above.
- Cook the paste out of the above.
- Cook the paste till semi-hard mixture at low flame.
- Portion the above mixture, make small patties (18g-20g) and cool it.
- Apply a layer of seasoned choice on forcemeat (optional for non-vegetarians)
- Make a tempura batter out of refined flour, black gram paste, salt and pepper.
- Coat the patties into batter and crust with quinoa.
- Rest for 1 or 2 hrs
- Patties can be baked or deep fried as desired.
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The “Pulses Meals Exhibition and Lunch Organisation” held on 23rd January, 2016 by Mersin Commodity Exchange in cooperation with TAŞPAKON (Confederation of all chefs and pastry chefs ) for the honour of IYP-International Pulses Year 2016 drew great interest.
Participants of the organisation were, Mersin Governor Özdemir Çakacak, Canadian Ambassador John Holmes, Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Burhanettin Kocamaz, high-ranking and related bureaucrats, representives of non-governmental organizations, movers and shakers of Pulses and employees of sector.
Both the best 20 chefs from all around Turkey ( Istanbul, Ankara, Van, Erzurum, Elazığ, Kütahya, Adana, Antalya etc.) and 6 chefs from Mersin prepared 120 pulses meals, hand in glove, and this was a first in the 
world.
There were traditional, regional, innovative meals in the Pulses Meals Exhibition, while all the visitors showed great interest to the exhibition.
After the Exhibition, all participants and also visitors were served a lunch consisting of pulse-based meals.
During the lunch the Chairman of Mersin Commodity Exchange, Ö.Abdullah Özdemir, The Chairman of GPC- Global Pulse Confederation Hüseyin Arslan, Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Burhanettin Kocamaz, Canada Ambassador John Holmes and Mersin Governor Özdemir Çakacak gave a speech .
The presenter of the organisation Wilco Van Herpen (journalist writing in Hürriyet Daily News, a producer
and gourmet chef) expressed his self by saying “I’ve been to various organizations up to today, but I‘m so
glad to be here now. This organisation is one of the best one’s I‘ve ever seen. It’s so interesting, because it is about agriculture, it is about business, it’s about flavor, it’s about aesthetic”.
The Chairman of Mersin Commodity Exchang, Ö. Abdullah Özdemir, expressed that all meals as part of The Pulses Meals Exhibition will share recipes on the website of the Commodity Exchange. They will also prepare a recipe book consisting of the mentioned Pulses Meals.
Watch the video:
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed an infographic to share the knowledge of pulses. "Surprising facts about pulses you might not know" share 10 powerful facts about the sustainability and nutrition benefits of pulses.
Download the infographic from the FAO resource bank here.
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The Netherlands have worked to create an informative booklet, about the benefits of pulses, to give to consumers for free. This booklet has been distributed at many pop-up and planned events including the Nationale Gezondheidsbeurs (National Health Fair), Press Releases, and Food Truck events.
Check out this awesome booklet, which reads completely in Dutch: