Legume
Pigeon peas
Also called gandules, gungo peas, gunga peas, toor, arhar
Small round beige-green legumes with a nutty bite. Sold green in tins across the Caribbean, dried and split as toor dal in South Asia.
Origin
India, carried to Africa and the Caribbean centuries ago.
Flavour
Earthy, nutty, slightly sweet. They hold their shape when cooked.
How to use it
Stir tinned green pigeon peas into rice with sofrito or coconut milk. Soak and simmer dried ones for an hour.
Storage
Tins in the pantry; dried in a jar; cooked in the fridge for four days.
Recipes using it
Arroz con gandules
Puerto Rico's rice with pigeon peas, sofrito, olives and annatto-tinted oil, cooked in one pot with a crust on the bottom.
Easy
Pelau
Trinidad's one-pot rice: chicken browned in burnt sugar, cooked with pigeon peas, coconut milk, pumpkin and green seasoning.
Medium
Peas n rice
Peas n' rice
Bahamian rice cooked with pigeon peas, bacon, tomato paste and thyme in one pot. The side that goes under everything fried.
Easy
