The WHO recommends legumes at least three times a week: ten autumn recipes, from lentils with pumpkin and turmeric to beans with quail

Beans, lentils and chickpeas aren't poverty food - they're the smartest plate of autumn. The World Health Organization recommends legumes at least three times a week. Every kitchen in the Balkans has them, but how many times a week do they actually make it to the table, and not just on fasting days?

The nutritional maths is simple. Legumes are a good source of plant protein. Their biological value isn't the highest, but combined with rice or potatoes, one completes the other. They contain B vitamins, iron, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus, as well as folic acid and plenty of fibre, especially if eaten with their skins. They're low in fat and sugar, have no cholesterol, keep you full for a long time and are naturally gluten-free. The exceptions are soy and peanuts, which are rich in fat and are pressed for oil.

Two practical tricks. The iron in legumes is absorbed better with vitamin C, so add green pepper, carrot, orange or kiwi. Against bloating - soak dried legumes beforehand, chew well, eat slowly, or turn them into a cream soup or purée. Bonus: they're cheap, dried ones last for months, and as plants they enrich the soil with nitrogen.

On cooking: dried legumes need longer cooking, unless you use a pressure cooker, while tinned ones save time - but check the additives on the label. For stews, start with sautéed onion and vegetables and add fish, vegetable or meat stock depending on the other ingredients. Cumin, turmeric, curry and ginger work as spices, and dill, fennel and rosemary as herbs.

Ten recipes for autumn:

• Lentils with celery and carrot (60 minutes, 6 servings) - lots of celery and carrot, onion and garlic, no bacon, chorizo or black pudding. Lighter, yet still filling.
• White beans with peppers and chorizo (90 minutes, 4 servings) - slow cooking and just a little chorizo, following a recipe by Basque chef Karlos Arguiñano.
• Braised chickpeas with vegetables (40 minutes) - a base that later goes into salads and purées too.
• Three-legume cream soup (45 minutes, 6 servings) - lentils, beans and chickpeas, topped with broad beans and croutons.
• Small white beans with lamb cheeks (120 minutes, 4 servings) - the meat can be swapped for pork or veal cheeks.
• Lentils with aubergine and pumpkin (75 minutes, 6 servings) - with curry, cumin, turmeric and hot red pepper.
• Beans with quail (40 minutes) - using ready-cooked tinned beans to speed things up.
• Large white bean salad with artichokes and clams (20 minutes, 4 servings) - a complete meal in the time it takes to drink a coffee.
• Red lentils with spinach and tofu (60 minutes, 4 servings) - two sources of protein in one pan.
• Red bean soup with chard (40 minutes, 4 servings) - works with any other bean too.

Tavče gravče, the Macedonian baked beans, isn't on the list, and it doesn't need to be - we know that one by heart. But lentils with pumpkin and turmeric are a great excuse for beans not to show up on the table only on Fridays.