Pantry
Black-eyed beans
Also called black-eyed peas, cowpeas, ewa, niébé
Small cream beans with a dark eye. Dried, they cook faster than most beans and need no overnight soak.
Origin
West Africa, domesticated in the Sahel; now grown across the tropics and the American South.
Flavour
Earthy, slightly sweet, with a soft skin.
How to use it
Boil for stews, or soak, skin and blend for moi-moi and akara.
Storage
Airtight pantry for up to a year. Older beans take longer to soften.
Recipes using it
Moi moi
Mọ́ínmọ́ín
Nigerian steamed bean pudding of skinned black-eyed beans blended with peppers, onion and crayfish, set in cups.
MediumMedium heat
Waakye
Ghanaian rice and beans cooked together with dried sorghum leaves, which turn the pot red-brown, sold by the ladle from street tables.
Easy
Red-red
Ghanaian black-eyed bean stew cooked in red palm oil with tomato and ginger, served with fried ripe plantain.
EasyMedium heat
Baião de dois
Rice and black-eyed beans cooked together with bacon, onion and garlic, with cubes of queijo coalho folded in to soften. From Ceará.
Easy