Legumes & Beans

🇧🇷Bahia, Brazil

Abará

A Afro-Bahian steamed dish of black-eyed pea paste wrapped in banana leaves, filled with dried shrimp, onion, and dendê oil.

🇧🇷Bahia, Brazil

Acarajé

Deep-fried black-eyed pea fritters split open and filled with vatapá, caruru, dried shrimp, hot sauce, and salad, rooted in Afro-Bahian cuisine.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Adalu

A Yoruba bean and sweet corn pottage, slow-cooked with pepper, palm oil and sometimes plantain or yam, a rustic one-pot everyday meal.

🇸🇴Somalia

Adzuki Beans with Butter

Cambuulo

A common Somali dinner dish made from well-cooked adzuki beans (digir) mixed with butter and sugar; the beans can take up to five hours to finish cooking on a low flame; sometimes cooked with qamadi (wheat); served as late as 9 pm, or after Tarawih prayers during Ramadan; a comforting, sweet, and filling dish; the dinner that sustains Somali nights.

🇹🇩Chad

African Locust Bean

Néré

African locust bean (néré) used as a flavoring in Chadian cuisine; the seeds are fermented and used as a seasoning; adds umami to sauces; a traditional ingredient across the Sahel; sold at markets; the fermented seeds are pungent and intensely savory.

🇮🇷Rasht, Iran

Baghali Ghatogh

باقالی قاتق

Gilan dish of broad beans stewed with dill, garlic and turmeric with eggs cracked in at the end.

🇰🇼Kuwait

Bajella

باجلا

Dried broad beans soaked overnight and boiled soft with cumin, eaten for breakfast with bread, lemon and oil.

🇷🇸Serbia

Baked Beans with Onion

Пребранац

Beans layered with a great weight of slowly fried onion and paprika and baked in a clay dish until a crust forms on top.

🇱🇧Lebanon

Balilah

بليلة

Whole chickpeas warmed in their cooking liquid and dressed with garlic, lemon, cumin and olive oil, eaten with a spoon.

🇮🇳Maharashtra, India

Batata Vada

बटाटा वडा

A Maharashtrian potato fritter in chickpea batter. It is the key component of vada pav.

🇧🇼Botswana

Bean Leaf Spinach

Morogo wa dinawa

Spinach made from bean leaves — a popular Setswana food where bean leaves are cooked and dried for preservation, then rehydrated and cooked as a relish; served with pap.

🇷🇴Romania

Bean Purée with Fried Onion

Fasole bătută

White beans mashed with oil and garlic into a smooth paste and topped with onion fried dark in paprika oil.

🇦🇴Angola

Beans in Palm Oil

Feijão de óleo de palma

Butter beans stewed slowly in red palm oil with onion and garlic until the oil separates orange on top.

🇬🇧United Kingdom

Beans on toast

Beans on toast is hot baked beans spooned over buttered toast, a British café and home staple.

🇲🇦Morocco

Bissara

بصارة

A thick puree of dried fava beans, garlic, cumin, and olive oil served hot as a Moroccan soup-like dish.

🇬🇧England, United Kingdom

Black Peas

Lancashire black peas are purple-podded peas simmered until creamy, often served with vinegar.

🇸🇱Sierra Leone

Black-eyed Peas and Rice

Binch

A Sierra Leonean Friday breakfast of black-eyed peas cooked with onion, tomato, palm oil, chilli, and flakes of fish, served over white rice; a beloved morning street meal in Freetown.

🇲🇲Myanmar

Boiled Yellow Peas

ပဲပြုတ်

Yellow split peas boiled soft and served warm with fried onion, chilli, sesame oil and a squeeze of lime, or ladled over rice or naan.

🇺🇸Boston, United States

Boston Baked Beans

Navy beans slow-baked with molasses, salt pork, and mustard until dark, glossy, and sweet-savory.

🇲🇹Malta

Broad Beans with Garlic

Ful bit-tewm

Fresh broad beans boiled and dressed while warm with olive oil, lemon, garlic and mint.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Burkinabè Cowpea

Niébé

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), the major legume of Burkina Faso; drought-resistant and protein-rich; used in benga, gonré, and beignets; called benga in Mooré and sôsô in Dioula.

🇻🇪Venezuela

Caraotas Negras

Venezuelan stewed black beans simmered with onion, bell pepper, garlic, cumin and Worcestershire sauce, the essential bean component of pabellón criollo.

🇮🇳West Bengal, India

Chanachur

চানাচুর

A Bengali savory snack mix of fried lentils, peanuts, spices, and sev. It is crunchy and spicy.

🇺🇸United States

Cowboy Beans

A campfire pot of beans simmered with ground beef, bacon, onion, and barbecue-style sauce.

🇮🇳India

Dal Tadka

दाल तड़का

Cooked lentils finished with a sizzling tempering of ghee, cumin, garlic, and dried chilies. A simple, aromatic dish found across North India.

🇧🇼Botswana

Dikgobe

Izinkobe

Comforting mixture of beans and samp (processed corn) — a balanced, earthy dish cooked slowly until both beans and samp are tender; a staple of Botswana home cooking, often served at gatherings.

🇧🇯Benin

Djongoli

A bean purée with palm oil and corn flour; orange in colour; a festive dish shared between Benin and Togo; rich and hearty; served at celebrations.

🇨🇳Sichuan, China

Dry-Fried Green Beans

干煸四季豆

Green beans blistered in hot oil until wrinkled, then tossed with minced pork, preserved mustard greens and dried chilli.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Echicha

An Igbo preparation of dried cocoyam pieces and pigeon peas cooked into a hearty regional dish.

🇯🇵Japan

Edamame

枝豆

Boiled and salted green soybeans in the pod, the classic beer snack at izakayas.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Ekuru

A Yoruba steamed savoury bean cake, similar to moin moin but without oil and seasoning, served with pepper sauce or ewedu.

🇳🇬Lagos, Nigeria

Ewa Aganyin

Ẹ̀wà aganyin

A Yoruba street food of soft mashed beans served with a spicy, oily pepper and tomato sauce, eaten with agege bread or agidi, a Lagos staple.

🇳🇬Lagos, Nigeria

Ewa Agoyin

Ẹ̀wà agoyin

Beans cooked until they collapse to a paste, served under a near-black sauce of fried pepper, onion and palm oil.

🇬🇷South Aegean, Greece

Fava

Φάβα

Greek yellow split pea purée from Santorini, drizzled with olive oil and topped with capers or onions. A meze and island specialty, silky and earthy, served with bread, a Cyclades classic.

🇧🇷Minas Gerais, Brazil

Feijão Tropeiro

A hearty dish from Minas Gerais of beans cooked with manioc flour, bacon, sausage, eggs, and greens, historically eaten by muleteers.

🇺🇬Uganda

Firinda

Beans boiled until they collapse, then sieved and mashed smooth with ghee into a pale purée, an Ankole dish of the west.