Recipe: Chickpea Stew with Mint and Feta (Ρεβύθια με Φέτα και Δυόσμος)

I’m just back from Seattle, where my sister lives and my mom has resettled. After her crazy awful 2009 (husband of 65 years died, sold her home of 50 years, moved to a small apartment in a new city), my mom is positively engaged in her new life. Her motto: “Choose Happiness.” My mom, always quirky but never boring, is an inspiration.

Regular readers know nothing makes me happier than cooking with my sister. A couple days into the visit, we dished up a delicious dinner of salmon and lentils with red wine sauce. The food was beautiful; my sister suggested I take a picture and blog the meal (another day, I promise). I was too hungry for photography.

Over dinner, my sister claimed it was traditional for me to blog about one meal cooked in her kitchen each visit. Who knew? It’s funny how traditions sneak into your life without warning. And ignoring tradition, even one newly adopted, is bad juju. So that night, I found myself lying in bed dreaming up recipes.

At the store, we’d just bought chickpeas and gorgeous lamb steaks. My sister was out of coriander, so we'd bought some of that too. I decided to pair the chickpeas and coriander in a stew with plenty of fresh mint. The next day we went to Big John’s PFI, a Seattle store with a great cheese selection, and bought Greek sheep feta (and, of course, much more), the perfect finishing ingredient for chickpea stew.

Sadly, the Seattle stew pictures didn’t turn out (bad lighting, no tripod), so I “forced” myself to remake the stew when I returned to Alaska. Since I’d been craving leftover chickpeas during the foodless flight home, I was quite happy to make them again, especially because the stew goes together so quickly. It was as tasty the second time as it was in Seattle. This time, I ate the leftovers, and the flavor, already great, was even better the next day.

With generous quantities of mint, my chickpea stew goes particularly well with lamb. It also makes a deliciously filling meal on its own. The recipe has definitely been added to my permanent rotating repertoire.

Chickpea Stew with Mint and Feta (Ρεβύθια με Φέτα και Δυόσμος)
Serves 4
Serve as a side dish with grilled lamb or chicken, or as a main course with steamed rice or couscous. A crisp green salad nicely completes the meal.

3 cups diced yellow onions, 1/4” dice
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup diced carrots, 1/4” dice
1 cup diced celery, 1/4” dice
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes
3 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 15-oz. cans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1/2 cup minced fresh mint
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta

Sauté the onions, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, in olive oil until they soften and start to turn golden. Stir in the carrots and celery and sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, ground coriander, and crushed red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Cover, turn down the heat, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and the flavors meld. Stir in the parsley and mint and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the feta and serve immediately.
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This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week Katie from Eat This.

Recipe: Clams and Giant White Beans with Buttery Wine Broth (Κυδώνια με Γίγαντες)

Last fall we took a quick trip to San Francisco where, unsurprisingly, the weather was cloudy and the food delicious. One Saturday we went to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, ogled vegetables and local cheeses, and ate at Hog Island Oyster Company. Though our table was outside on the chilly plaza, we warmed ourselves with champagne and garlicky Clams with Gigantes and Buttery Wine Broth. We walked away happy.

Gigantes, also known as giant Greek beans or Phaseolus coccineus (multiflorus), have a starchy texture that is a perfect foil for sauces of all kinds. They're a PGI product of Greece, and always a treat to eat. (In the European Union, a PGI designation identifies foods grown in unique regions that have special qualities and characteristics.)
....

When I was working, I made steamed clams because they were quick. Now I just make them because they taste good. 

Clams with Giant White Beans and Buttery Wine Broth (Κυδώνια με Γίγαντες)
Serves 4
Inspired by Hog Island Oyster Company, San Francisco, California
If you prefer not to eat butter, this dish is delicious when made with extra-virgin olive oil. Gigantes may be cooked several days ahead (or canned beans may be used), in which case this makes a deliciously quick mid-week meal. 

Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska has moved as of March 2011. To read this post please go to

http://www.laurieconstantino.com/clams-with-gigantes/

 

Please click on over and visit my new site. Thank you!

Ingredient: Tepary Beans with Recipe for Tepary Bean and Vegetable Stew

The snow in our front yard is nearly gone, the ice in the pond has melted, and spring is quickening. After our difficult winter, I’m looking forward to seasonal change even more eagerly than usual.

Speaking of winter, the overwhelming support from the blogging community during my father’s long illness and ultimate death was much appreciated. It’s not easy to lose a parent, but the kindness and concern shown by so many helped. Thank you all so much.

Because I spent so much of the winter in Washington near my parents, I was able to see my sister regularly, to my great joy. Though we’re two years apart and have the closeness that comes from childhood bedroom-sharing, as adults we’ve always lived far away from each other. It was indescribably soul-satisfying to have her (and her husband and dogs) be part of daily life the last few months.

Shopping for food and cooking dinner with my sister brought new life to what too often are routine activities. Despite our years apart, we’ve developed similar cooking styles and work together smoothly and easily in the kitchen.

One of the projects we undertook was finding and cooking tepary beans for My Legume Love Affair Ninth Helping. Despite searching in numerous Seattle area stores, we were unable to find tepary beans and resorted to ordering them online. When they arrived, we made Tepary Bean and Vegetable Stew and loved it. I’ll definitely be cooking with tepary beans again.

Tepary beans (Phaseolus acutifolius) are a bush bean originating in the desert areas of Mexico and the American Southwest. They grow best in extreme heat and under very dry conditions. Tepary beans’ taproot is twice as long as common beans’ (Phaseolus vulgaris), which allows teparies to efficiently take advantage of even small amounts of soil moisture.

Nutritionally, tiny tepary beans (1/4” long, the size of large lentils) are higher in protein, iron, calcium, and fiber than most beans. Their nutritional benefits, sweet, nutty flavor, and relatively quick cooking time make teparies well worth searching out.

Jay Bost, in the June 2006 Seeds of Change newsletter, wrote a fascinating article about tepary beans. His discussion of the growing conditions under which teparies thrive makes me interested in trying them in Greece, which has the necessary hot dry summers:

“Due to its native habitat in the Sonoran Desert, domesticated tepary beans … are considered by many to be the most drought-tolerant annual legume in the world. They are capable of producing a harvest of beans with a single rain in the harshest conditions; when irrigated, they produce higher yields only up to a certain point, after which excess moisture becomes a detriment and leads to overproduction of foliage and low bean production. In fact, it appears that moisture stress is necessary to trigger fruiting. Part of the tepary bean's secret to success in dry areas is to grow quickly when water is available. While pinto beans take 90 to 120 days to maturity, teparies take only 75 to 85. As water shortages become a reality in many parts of the U.S. and around the world, teparies will undoubtedly play an important role in dryland agriculture. In fact, tepary cultivation is now taking place in dry areas of Africa and is being revived in southern Arizona.”

Bost details teparies’ nutritional benefits:

“Part of the tepary bean's appeal, in addition to its drought tolerance, is its superior nutritional content. It has a higher protein content (23–30%) than common beans such as pinto, kidney, and navy, as well as higher levels of oil, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, and potassium. While higher in all of these desired nutrients, tepary beans are lower in polyunsaturated fat and in the anti-enzymatic compounds which make common beans hard to digest (Hamama and Bhardwaj 2002). … Tepary beans are proving to be an ideal food for people prone to diabetes or suffering from diabetes owing to the beans' high fiber level, which make them a "slow-release food"; that is, tepary beans' sugars are released slowly and steadily, rather than in a spike as in many high carbohydrate, low fiber foods common in our diets.”

The Ark of Taste is a list of endangered food plants and animals that the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity seeks to protect and defend. Tepary Beans are now on the Ark of Taste list for the United States.

I can’t wait to start playing around in the kitchen with tepary beans, and hope to soon convince a local store to carry them!

Tepary Bean and Vegetable Stew
Serves 4
Adapted from Heirloom Beans by Steve Sando and Vanessa Barrington (Chronicle Books 2008)
Tepary beans’ firm texture and sweet flavor pair well with most vegetables. This stew includes peppers, green beans, zucchini, and tomatoes, all of which, like tepary beans, originate in the Americas. I roast red peppers directly over a gas burner while the beans are cooking, put them in a closed paper bag until cool (which makes them easier to peel), remove the charred skin with my fingers (don’t use water; it’ll take away too much flavor), and cut them into thin strips. The sweet bean and vegetable stew is perfectly set off by best-quality, sharp, salty feta cheese from Greece.

1/2 pound dried tepary beans
Water
3 cups diced onions, 1/2” dice (1 large onion)
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1” lengths (4-5 cups)
1 large zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and then diagonally into 1/4” slices (4 cups)
2 tsp. minced fresh thyme
2 red bell peppers, roasted, cut into strips and then in half
4-6 ounces best quality feta cheese, crumbled, for garnish

Spread out the tepary beans in a flat pan and inspect carefully, removing any pebbles or debris. Rinse well with cold water. Put the beans in a large pot with enough water to cover them by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Cover and turn off the heat. Let sit for at least one hour. (NOTE: Next time I cook tepary beans, I’ll try eliminating this step; I suspect tiny teparies don’t need pre-soaking or pre-cooking.)

Bring the tepary beans and their liquid back to the boil (do not discard the original water). Turn down the heat, and simmer for 1 – 2 hours, or until the beans are just tender and not at all mushy.

In a separate pan, sauté the onions, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, in 2 Tbsp. olive oil until the onions soften and start to turn golden. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. When the tepary beans are done simmering, scrape the onions, garlic, and oil into the bean pot. Stir in the tomatoes and green beans. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down the heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the green beans are tender.

While the green beans are cooking, using the same pan in which the onions were cooked, sauté the zucchini, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, in olive oil. Cook until the zucchini browns lightly and begins to soften. Turn off the heat and stir in the thyme.

When the green beans are tender, scrape the zucchini, thyme, and their oil into the bean pot. Stir in the roasted red pepper pieces. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve hot, garnished with crumbled feta.
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This is an entry for My Legume Love Affair – 9th Helping (MLLA9), created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, which I hosted in March 2009. My Legume Love Affair - 10th Helping for April 2009 is being hosted by Courtney of Coco Cooks.

Recipes: Pan-Fried Salmon with Curly Endive and Christmas Lima Beans & Christmas Lima Bean Salad

Christmas lima beans, with their speckled, swirled coats of maroon and cream, are one of the world’s most beautiful dried beans. When properly cooked, their texture is firm and their taste nutty.

Christmas limas are a perfect foil for strong, spicy flavors and are robust enough to serve on their own as a salad, spread, side dish, or main course. They go particularly well with wild mushrooms, bitter greens, and strong-flavored fish like salmon or mackerel.

The

Ark of Taste is a list of endangered food plants and animals that the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity seeks to protect and defend. Christmas limas (Phaseolus lunatus), also known as chestnut limas, are now on the Ark of Taste list for the United States.

According to the Ark of Taste website, “gastronomic accounts date the Christmas Lima Bean to the 1840s when it was especially popular in the southwestern region of the US. … It is used in both its mature green state as a shelled Lima for eating fresh, freezing or canning as well as used dried, and cooked into stews and casseroles. The Christmas Lima is very successful in the high desert environments of the southwest. They are hardy, heat tolerant and very productive—a bean known for its yield and versatility.”

A couple days ago, I found myself with time to kill at Natural Pantry, an Anchorage store that started as a health food/vitamin store. Over the years, without my noticing it, Natural Pantry has added an extensive line of gourmet and specialty food products. Each aisle brought new surprises. I left with two full bags of hard-to-find-in-Anchorage ingredients, including a package of Christmas Lima Beans. I’ll definitely return to Natural Pantry, sooner rather than later.

One final, but important, note: Dried Christmas lima beans are delicious. Other than genes, they have nothing in common with the nasty green limas I remember from childhood.

Pan-Fried Salmon with Curly Endive and Christmas Lima Beans
Serves 4
Christmas Lima Bean Salad may be made well-ahead. If it is, this dish makes a quick weekday meal. Before serving refrigerated bean salad, remove it from the refrigerator at least 1 hour, or put it in the microwave on medium for approximately 2 minutes.

1 pound wild-caught salmon fillets
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 head curly endive (approximately 8 cups cleaned and chopped)
1/4 cup chiffonade-cut fresh mint
1 recipe Christmas Lima Bean Salad (see recipe below)

Wash the salmon and dry it well. Using needle-nosed pliers, remove as many pin-bones from the fillet as possible. Skin the fish, if necessary, and cut it into 4 even pieces. Season the fillets on both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Let the seasoned fish rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before cooking.

While the fish is resting, wash the curly endive, dry it well, and roughly chop it into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, toss the curly endive with the mint and Christmas Lima Bean Salad. Taste and add salt or freshly ground black pepper, as needed. Divide the endive and bean mix between 4 plates.Heat the olive oil in a pan until it is hot, but not smoking. Turn the heat to medium high, and add the salmon. Cook for 3 – 5 minutes, or until the pan side of the salmon is lightly browned. Turn over and cook for 1 - 3 minutes, or until the salmon is done to your taste. The exact cooking time depends on the fillets’ thickness; keep in mind that salmon tastes better slightly underdone than it does when it's overdone.
Place the hot salmon fillets on top of the endive and bean beds. Serve immediately.

Christmas Lima Bean Salad
Serves 4-6
The amount of jalapeño in the dressing, and whether you include the jalapeños’ seeds (which add heat), depends on how spicy you like your food. I last made this with 2 jalapeños including the seeds, and it was pleasantly spicy. My husband would’ve preferred it with 3 whole jalapeños. If you don’t like spicy food, remove the seeds before adding the jalapeños. Keep in mind that jalapeños are not uniformly hot. If your jalapeños are too mild, add a little sambal oelek or crushed red pepper flakes to make a spicier dressing. I prefer the taste of capers preserved in salt to those preserved in brine (although either works here), and usually rinse and soak the capers to remove excess salt. However, for this dressing, I used the capers salt and all, and didn’t separately add salt to the dressing.

Beans:
1 cup dried Christmas lima beans (6 ounces dried or 2 1/2 cups cooked)
5 bay leaves
Water

Dressing:
2-3 red or green jalapeño peppers
4 tsp. capers, preferably salted
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup chiffonade-cut fresh mint

Cook the Beans: Place the beans in a large pot, cover them with lots of water, and let soak overnight. The next day, drain and rinse the beans. Return them to the pot; add the bay leaves and enough water to cover the beans by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down the heat to low, and simmer the beans for 60-90 minutes, just until the flesh is tender (be careful not to cook the beans until they are mushy). Drain the beans, reserving the bean cooking water (see Note below).

Make the Dressing: While the beans are cooking, purée the jalapeños, capers, garlic, and red wine vinegar in a blender. Add the oil to the other ingredients slowly, while the blender is running. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Make the Salad: Mix the cooked Christmas lima beans with the dressing, red onions, and fresh mint. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note on Bean Cooking Water: If I’m not using it right away, I freeze bags of bean cooking water and use it instead of stock in soup and stew recipes. The cooking water from Christmas lima beans tastes particularly good, and is definitely worth saving.

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This is my entry for My Legume Love Affair – 9th Edition (MLLA9) which I am hosting this month and which was created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

Recipes: Split Pea Soup with Ham Hocks & Garlic Yogurt

As many of you know, my 88-year-old father is nearing the end of his happy and fortunate life. For the past couple months, as his health has gone downhill, I’ve been spending lots of time with my parents in the Pacific Northwest, hence my lack of blog posting.

I’m heading back down to Washington again on Wednesday. At home in Alaska, I’ve been making lots of freezer food so my husband can have quick and easy meals while I’m gone. This weekend, I spent a lazy Saturday afternoon making a giant pot of Split Pea Soup, comfort food at its most basic.

I started making Split Pea Soup 35 years ago as a college student living on work study wages. In those days, I ate it because it was cheap, filling, and very tasty. Now, I eat Split Pea Soup just because it tastes good. As it has evolved over the years, my Split Pea Soup recipe is one of my favorites.

There are two keys to making wonderful split pea soup: the soup must cook at low temperature for a long time and the ham hock (or leftover ham-bone) must be meaty and of best quality. Low and slow cooking allows the flavors to meld seamlessly into one another, and the cartilage in the hock to dissolve and give the soup a silky mouth feel.

In Anchorage, Mr. Prime Beef on the Old Seward Highway sells beautifully meaty smoked ham hocks; make sure to have the butcher cut them into thirds for ease of cooking and better tasting soup. The other day, I also say nice-looking whole ham hocks at Natural Pantry; sadly, this store doesn't have an in-store butcher to cut them up.

Split Pea Soup with Ham Hocks
Serves 12
Finish Split Pea Soup with a dollop of Garlic Yogurt (see recipe below) or a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Whether to purée split pea soup is a personal decision, and isn’t necessary. I’ve served and enjoyed the soup both ways. Lately, I’m liking the more refined puréed version; its flavors seem to be better balanced. Split Pea Soup freezes really well and a quart freezer bag easily holds enough Split Pea Soup for two. Of course, you can always cut the recipe in half if you aren’t serving a crowd or stocking your freezer or don’t have a large enough pot (a Dutch oven is only big enough to make half a recipe). I use a mortar and pestle for crushing the peppercorns, but you can also crush them with the bottom of a saucepan.

2 pounds dried green split peas
4 cups diced onion, 1/4” dice (about 2 large)
2 cups diced garnet yams (sweet potatoes), 1/4” dice (about 3 medium)
1 1/2 cups diced celery, 1/4” dice (about 3 stalks)
1 cup diced carrots, 1/4” dice (about 3 medium)
1 Tbsp. freshly crushed black peppercorns
1 Tbsp. freshly crushed dried thyme
2 cups white wine
5 bay leaves
2 - 2 1/2 pounds smoked ham hock, cut in thirds
Water
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Spread out the split peas on a tray or flat pan and inspect carefully, removing any pebbles or debris. Rinse and drain the split peas.

Put the split peas, onions, garnet yams, celery, carrots, crushed peppercorns, crushed thyme, white wine, bay leaves, and ham hocks in a very large stock pot. Add water to cover the ingredients by 6 inches (3 inches if you cut the recipe in half). Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for 2 hours. Remove the cover and simmer for 1-3 more hours until the split peas are very soft, the meat is falling off the bone, and the liquid is reduced to your liking.

Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the bay leaves and the ham hocks, including all the bones and chunks of fat. If you are puréeing the soup, process it with a stick blender (or in a blender or food processor) until it is very smooth.

Remove and discard all the fat and bones from the ham hocks. Dice the meat into bite sized pieces and add it back to the soup. If the soup is too thin, simmer it longer. If it is too thick, thin it with water and simmer for 15 minutes before serving.

Garlic Yogurt
When I’m in a hurry, or have strained Greek yogurt on hand, I don’t bother with straining the yogurt. It tastes fine if you just mix all the ingredients and serve immediately, though the texture is better if you strain the yogurt. This recipe makes enough for about 6 servings of soup, so double the recipe if you’re serving Split Pea Soup to a crowd.

1 cup whole-milk yogurt
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. Kosher or coarse-grained salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Line a colander with paper towels. Dump the yogurt into the lined colander and let the liquid drain out of the yogurt for 30 – 60 minutes. Puree the garlic by mashing it into the salt. Mix together the drained yogurt, mashed salted garlic, and freshly ground black pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding garlic, salt, or pepper, as needed.

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This is my entry for My Legume Love Affair – 9th Edition (MLLA9) which I am hosting this month and which was created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

Beans: A History and My Legume Love Affair Ninth Helping Round-Up

Beans: A History by Ken Albala (Berg 2007) may be the most interesting single-subject volume of food history I’ve seen; it reads as easily as a novel. Beans are Albala’s plucky hero, ever striving to overcome the cultural elite’s prejudice against what it deemed low-class trash food.

From continent to continent, Albala tracks beans’ essential role in bringing civilization and saving the masses from starvation. Despite their importance to humanity, beans get little respect. They’re too often considered as exclusively poverty food, with personal success being achieved when beans are no longer part of one’s diet.

Albala’s cultural and political history of beans is particularly interesting to read during this time of economic downturn, when too many are relying on cheap fast food for sustenance. The stigma attached to bean eating that Albala describes may partially explain why this healthy eating option is not more readily embraced by modern Americans.

Albala says the only place where beans are universally held in high regard is on the Indian subcontinent. The entire region has a vibrant bean cuisine that is accepted without regard to class lines.

That vibrancy nearly overwhelmed me as I assumed responsibility for hosting My Legume Love Affair Ninth Helping (MLLA9) this month.

The initial wave of MLLA9 recipes came mostly from Indian cooks, a cuisine with which I am totally unfamiliar. I struggled to understand the recipes, with their incomprehensible-to-me names and ingredients. Wikipedia became my new best friend.

I quickly discovered that when Indian cooks use the word “lentil,” they may be referring to what I call lentils, or they may mean chickpeas, pigeon peas, or various members of the Vigna family. Some Indian cooks use the word “gram” or “dal” instead of lentil for any of these legumes. Scientific names were my only hope for understanding the very interesting Indian recipes.

By sheer coincidence, I was reading Albala’s book. It helped clear up some of my confusion. Albala gave me a clear structure for understanding the relationships between all the new legumes to which I was being introduced.

In putting together this month’s round-up, on the assumption that some of my readers may be as confused as I was by Indian terminology, I adopted Albala’s organizational structure. To locate the beans in historical time and place, I’ve included brief quotations from Albala’s book.

For anyone interested in learning more about legumes, I highly recommend Beans: A History; it’s well worth reading.

Each month, Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, the creative mind behind My Legume Love Affair, offers a prize which is randomly awarded to one entrant. The prize this month was Mediterranean Street Food by Anissa Helou, and the winner is Petra of Foodfreak. Congratulations Petra!

Since this month I’m focusing on species, I’m awarding a second prize for the entry using the most legume species in a single recipe. The prize is A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East by Richard Tapper and Sami Zubaida, and the winner is Maria of Organically Cooked for her Mixed Bean Stew. Congratulations Maria!

With over 80 entries, this month’s round-up is a long read. Grab a cup of tea and settle in to learn about an enjoyable and highly diverse group of legumes and recipes!

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My Legume Love Affair Ninth Helping

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Lentils: Fertile Crescent
The histories of humans and lentils are inextricably intertwined. In Beans: A History, Albala reports at page 9-11: “The lentil was among the very first plants ever domesticated … Somewhere in the Fertile Crescent, what is today eastern Turkey, northern Iraq and Syria, some unsuspecting nomad decided to gather tiny wild lentils and plant them … The earliest charred remains of wild lentils, an indication of cooking, date from about 11000 BCE and are found at the Franchthi Cave in Greece. Somewhere around 7000 BCE or earlier the lentil began to be domesticated, the modern species of Lens culinaris most likely deriving from a wild progenitor Lens orientalis.”

1. Petra of Foodfreak
Hamburg, Germany

Braised Lentils, Peas, and Bacon with Zander Fish
(Lentils – Lens culinaris and Green Peas – Pisum sativum)

2. Simona of Briciole
California, United States

Soup with Lentils from Castelluccio
(Lentils – Lens culinaris)

3. Peter of Souvlaki for the Soul
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Warm Lamb Salad with Beets and Lentils
(Lentils – Lens culinaris)

4. Jaya of Spice and Curry
Kolkata, India

Shrimp and Red Lentil Fritters
(Red Lentils – Lens culinaris)

5. Sushma in My Experiments with Cooking
Singapore

Curry with Lentils, Spinach, and Garlic (Lasooni Dal Palak)
(Red Lentils – Lens culinaris and Toor Dal - split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

Lupines: Europe and Andes
Lupines have a dicey history as food. They need to be carefully prepared to remove bitter alkaloids that render lupines both poisonous and unpalatable. However, Albala suggest lupines may be worth the effort to prepare. They are remarkable high in protein, which is provided at a much higher efficiency rate than beef.

“Unlike other beans, there are native species of lupines on both sides of the Atlantic. Lupinus albus and luteus … as well as augustifolius … come from southern Europe and Lupinus mutabilis comes from the Andes and is uniquely adapted to growing at high altitudes.” Albala at 26. Although Andean lupines are still used in heart of Inca country, “[l]upines were completely effaced from the culinary record in the West. That is not to say ordinary people avoided them. They continued to be eaten commonly as a snack, especially at popular fairs in Italy … Lupines or lupini beans can be found in jars on the shelves of Italian grocery stores in the US and in Provencal olive mixes.” Albala at 30.

I’d planned on writing about lupini beans and bought them both dried and bottled. We tried the already-prepared bottled version first. They were inedibly salty and extremely bitter. No one who ate one was willing to try a second. I soaked them overnight and removed the excessive salt, but the nasty bitterness remained. By unanimous demand, the bottled beans were discarded.

After that, I lost my enthusiasm for the multi-day soaking process necessary to render dried lupini beans edible. Since I have the dried beans, and Mark Bittman claims they’re good, I’ll try them someday; just not this month.

Fava Beans: Europe
Though not much used in the United States, fava beans are wildly popular in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean basin. Albala tells us at 33-34 that fava beans were “among the early Fertile Crescent domesticates,” but “the origin of Vicia faba is unknown and its wild ancestor is probably extinct. … The oldest archaeological remains of favas were found in a site near Nazareth dated between 6500 and 6000 BCE … Oddly, the archaeological record is otherwise silent and the next findings date from several thousand years later. Exactly when and where favas were domesticated remains a complete mystery, and they quite suddenly appear in Bronze Age sites in the third millennium BCE in places as far flung as Spain and Portugal, northern Italy and Switzerland, Greece and the Middle East. … most likely they spread from the Fertile Crescent in every direction, becoming the premier bean of the ancient world. When the word bean is used in European texts prior to 1492, it is almost always the fava.”

1. Maria of Organically Cooked
Hania, Crete, Greece

Mixed Bean Stew (Pallikaria-Παλλικάρια)
(Fava Beans – Vicia faba, Lentils – Lens culinaris, Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum, Black-eyed Peas - Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata, White Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

2. Sra of When My Soup Came Alive
India

Fresh Fava Bean and Eggplant Curry
(Fava Beans – Vicia faba)

Peas, Chickpeas and Pigeon Peas
Peas’ sweet flavor has made it more popular than most legumes. Peas also “have the broadest range geographically and climactically than any other legume … from the subtropics to cold and arid climates.” Albala at 75-6. According to Albala at 76, peas were “one of the earliest domesticated plants … archaeological remains of which date back as far as 8000 BCE. Its wild progenitor was probably the tall humile type distributed throughout the Levant, eastern Turkey, Syria and northern Iraq. … [A]ll the cultivated varieties used today are Pisum sativum. This domesticated pea spread rapidly, reaching Western Europe by 4000 BCE and thereafter south to Egypt, north into the Caucasus and Eastern Europe and east eventually reaching India by about 2000 BCE.”

1. Matt of Hurst Bean Blog
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Split Pea and Asparagus Soup
(Green Peas – Pisum sativum)

2. Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska, United States

Split Pea Soup with Ham Hocks
(Green Peas – Pisum sativum)

3. Ragee of Simply Innocence
Copell, Texas, United States

Sweet Green Peas and Fresh Fenugreek Leaves in Spicy Cream Sauce (Methi Matar Malai)
(Green Peas – Pisum sativum)

Albala points out at 81-2 that like peas, chickpeas have “largely escaped the ignominy of beans. Though … they are hardly a pea at all. They are properly a bean. … The origin of chickpeas is once again in the Fertile Crescent … in Turkey and Syria the oldest carbonized chickpeas have been found, about 10,000 years old, but these are small and may have been gathered wild. Larger seeded, domesticated samples are found in Bronze Age sites in Israel and Jordan. They made their way to Greece by 6000 BCE and France a few thousand years later, and, like the other beans, eventually to Africa and India. … There are two distinct types of chickpea – the large smooth-skinned variety common in the Mediterranean called Kabuli and smaller darker chickpeas more common in India and thereabouts called Desi.”

1. Vani of Mysoorean
United States

Mexican Bean and Vegetable Burger
(Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

2. Trupti of Recipe Center
Virginia, United States

Chickpea Burgers
(Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

3. Nuria of Spanish Recipes
Barcelona, Spain

Oven-Baked Rice with Chickpeas, Pork, and Morcilla (Arroz al Horno)
(Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

4. Sree of Taste Spell
United States

Chickpeas in Spicy Curry Sauce (Chole Masala)
(Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

5. Divya of Easy Cooking
Channai, India

Curried Garbanzo Beans with Fresh Fenugreek Greens (Methi Chole)
(Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

6. Maya of Stories from Emona
Ljubljana, Slovenia

Tomato and Onion Sautéed Chickpeas with Scrambled Eggs and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
(Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

7. Varsha of Will-O’-the-Wisp
Seattle, Washington, United States

Garbanzo Bean and Spinach Curry (Palak Chole)
(Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

8. Asha of Foodie’s Hope
North Carolina, United States

Brown Chickpea Masala (Chana Masala)
(Desi Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

9. Hema of Salt to Taste
Bayonne, New Jersey, United States

Spicy Chickpeas Fritters (Masala Vadai)
(Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

10. Sanghi of Sanghi’s Food Delights
Singapore

Sweet Steamed Dumplings (Kolukattai)
(Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

11. Sanghi of Sanghi’s Food Delights
Singapore

Spicy Chickpeas Fritters with Buttermilk Curry (Masala Vadai Mor Kuzhambu)
(Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

12. Indrani of Appyayan
Singapore

Fry Bread Stuffed with Spicy Chickpeas (Radhaballavi-Dal Puri)
(Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

13. Sonal of Khaane Ke Shaukeen
Singapore

Fry Bread with Chickpea Flour Stuffing (Besan Kachori)
(Chana Dal Flour - Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

14. Rinku of Cooking in Westchester
Westchester County, New York, United States

Radish and Scallion Pakoras with Chickpea Batter
(Chana Dal Flour - Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

For Americans, Pigeon Peas are the least well-known of the “peas” catalogued by Albala. Cajanus cajan is also known as the Congo or gunga pea and, in the Caribbean, as gandules. Albala says at 86, “They probably originated in India, where they are split, thereafter called toor dal, and cooked down with spices until they disintegrate. … To this day the majority are grown in India. From there they spread basically to every dry tropical region where peas do not grow well. Thus in East Africa they found a welcome home, though some speculate that they originated [t]here.”

1. Varsha of Will-O’-the-Wisp
Seattle, Washington, United States

Spicy Vegetable and Pigeon Pea Soup (Sambar)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

2. Lubna of Yummy Food
Bangalore, India

Spicy Vegetable Soup (Sambar) with Shallots
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

3. Lubna of Yummy Food
Bangalore, India

Cucumber and Pigeon Pea Soup (Dosakaya Pappu)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

4. Saritha of My Kitchen’s Aroma
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Coconut and Pigeon Pea Chutney (Kandi Pappu-Cobari Pachadi)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

5. A&N of Delectably Yours
Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Lemon Pigeon Pea Soup (Rasam)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

6. Usha of Veg Inspirations
North Carolina, United States

Bitter Gourd with Pigeon Pea-Tamarind Sauce (Pahakai Pitlai Kozhumbu)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan, Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum, and Urad Dal – split black gram – Vigna mungo)

7. Priyanka of Not Yet 100
India

Pigeon Peas and Tomatoes (Tamatar Dal)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

8. Priya of Priya’s Easy N Tasty Recipes
Paris, France

Peppery Chayote and Pigeon Pea Stew (Chayote Pepper Sambhar)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

9. Chitra of Ratatouille-Anyone Can Cook
Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Crispy Bean-Rice Pancakes with Curry Leaf Chutney (Moru Moru Adai)
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan and Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

10. Le of Heartful Concoctions
United States

Spicy Pigeon Pea, Eggplant, Drumstick, and Green Mango Soup
(Toor Dal – split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

Oddballs and Villains
“Every family has its black sheep oddballs and criminal types. Beans are no different. They seem odd only by comparison to the respectable members of the Fabaceae family, and many have found very happy homes throughout the world. Some of these are real degenerates though, surviving on the very margins of the human food supply, mostly as famine foods. … Although in no way related to each other, these beans [are included in a single chapter] because few readers are likely to be acquainted with them. This rogues’ gallery will include Lathyrus and Lablab, the Vetch clan, as well as the more obscure Canavalia, Mucuna and Macrotyloma, and the beautifully seductive Psophocarpus tetragonolobus…” Albala at 90.

1. Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska

Santorini Fava with Capers (Fava Pantremeni-Φάβα Παντρεμένη)
(Santorini Fava, Lathyrus clymenum L.)

2. Divya of Dil Se
Los Angeles, California, United States

Hyacinth Bean Stew (Mochai Kuzhambu)
(Hyacinth Beans – Lablab purpureus)

Mung and the Vignas: India
In India, beans escaped the low-class reputation in which they were held elsewhere in the world. Albala at 107-08 attributes this to a variety of political and religious reasons which “catalyzed the valorization of beans in a way that was diametrically opposed to Western Civilization’s denigration. Beans thus became an essential staple crop in India, the primary source of protein for the majority of people… Although the majority of modern Indians are not vegetarian, dense population and the high price of meat has meant the majority still receive most of their calories from vegetables, primarily grains and beans. As we have seen, Fertile Crescent legumes such as lentils and chickpeas were introduced at a very early date. But the subcontinent also had its own species, the most important of which are the Asiatic Vigna species or as they are known in India ‘grams’: mung beans (V. radiata or green gram), urd beans (V. mungo or black gram) as well as moth beans (V. aconitifolia), and rice beans (V. umbellata). … The Taxonomic distinction of the Vigna beans is also a relatively recent phenomenon. Many were classed as Phaseolus until that name was reserved exclusively for New World species…These Asian Vigna species were also given a sub-genus classification called Ceratotropis.”

1. Deeba of Passionate About Baking
North India

Mung Bean Pancakes
(Moong Dal – split mung beans – Vigna radiata)

2. Sanghi of Sanghi’s Food Delights
Singapore

Sweet Mung Bean Pudding (Kheer)
(Moong Dal – split mung beans – Vigna radiata)

3. Saritha of My Kitchen’s Aroma
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Sweet Mung Bean Pudding (Payasam or Kheer)
(Moong Dal – split mung beans – Vigna radiata)

4. Aparna of Ap’s Kitchen
Mangalore, Saudi Arabia

Spiced Mung Beans and Rice (Sheeth ani Mooga Dali Bette)
(Moong Dal – split mung beans – Vigna radiata)

5. Priya of Priya’s Easy N Tasty Recipes
Paris, France

Mung Bean Fritters (Green Gram Medhu Vada)
(Mung Beans – Vigna radiata)

6. Priya of Priya’s Easy N Tasty Recipes
Paris, France

Spinach and Mung Bean Soup
(Mung Beans – Vigna radiata)

7. Kalva of Curry in Kadai
Florida, United States

Steamed Rice-Bean Cakes with Garlic-Spice Powder (Kanchee Idli and Vellulli Karam)
(Urad Dal – split black gram – Vigna mungo)

8. Ashwini of Nanna Adige
Dallas, Texas, United States

Steamed Bean Cakes (Dal Idli)
(Urad Dal – split black gram - Vigna mungo, Moong Dal – split mung beans - Vigna radiata, and Toor Dal - split pigeon peas - Cajanus cajan)

9. Sonal of Khaane Ke Shaukeen
Singapore

Bean Dumplings in Yogurt (Dahi Vada)
(Urad Dal – split black gram - Vigna mungo and Moong Dal – split mung beans - Vigna radiata)

10. Priyanka of Not Yet 100
India

Crisp Flatbread with Black Gram Stuffing (Urad Dal Parathas)
(Urad Dal – split black gram - Vigna mungo)

11. Lavanya of vividharuchulu
Redmond, Washington, United States

Rice-Bean Pancakes (Plain Dosa)
(Urad Dal – split black gram - Vigna mungo)

12. Sharmistha of Cook-a-Doodle-Do
Hyderabad, India

Indian Bread with Bean-Asafoetida Stuffing (Hing er Kochuri)
(Urad Dal – split black gram - Vigna mungo and Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

13. Priya of Food and Laughter
India

Spicy “Gunpowder” Seasoning (Molaha Pudi)
(Urad Dal – split black gram - Vigna mungo and Chana Dal – split skinless Desi chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

Albala concludes his Vigna chapter with the Adzuki bean at 113: “Although clearly thematically separate from the discussion in this chapter, there remains one more relative in the Ceratotropis sub-genus. He is much bigger than his brothers, and more boisterous, with his bright red coat. He is also a little sweeter and something about the adzuki bean (V. angularis) makes you feel like celebrating.”

1. Apu of Annarasa
United States

Adzuki Beans with Swiss Chard
(Adzuki Beans - Vigna angularis)

2. Lucy of Nourish Me
Melbourne, Australia

Aduki and Celery Leaf Soup
(Adzuki Beans - Vigna angularis)

Black-eyed Peas: Africa, Soul Food
“Vigna unguiculata, at least according to botanists, is a cousin to the Asian Vigna species. … The black-eyed pea is, in any case, a resolutely and characteristically African bean. Archeological evidence from the Chad basin suggests that the pastoral people who migrated into this area around 1800 BCE began to switch to an agricultural regime by about 1200 BCE … with the staples of pearl millet and black-eyed peas. This bean has thus always played a central role in African agriculture and was brought with slaves to the Americas where it remains an indelible marker of African-American identity. … In the Old World, black-eyed peas spread northward and eastward in ancient times and the earliest recorded evidence of their use is not in Africa but among the Greeks and in India. … Africa, however, is the real home of black-eyed peas and West Africa still produces roughly 90 percent of the world supply.” Albala 117-19.

1. Pavani of Cook’s Hideout
New Jersey, United States

Black-Eyed Pea Burgers
(Black-eyed Peas - Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata)

2. Keerthana of Kitchen Vibes
Germany

Curried Black-Eyed Peas (Lobhia Curry)
(Black-eyed Peas - Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata)

3. Sia of Monsoon Spice
United Kingdom

Curried Black-Eyed Pea Sprouts with Bottle Gourd (Lauki-Lobia Curry)
(Black-eyed Peas - Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata)

4. Rachel of The Crispy Cook
Saratoga County, New York, United States

Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Preserved Lemons
(Black-eyed Peas - Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata)

Phaseolus vulgaris: Mexico and the World
The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, wasn’t known outside the Americas until after 1492. It is now grown throughout the world, and comes in a myriad of wildly different shapes and sizes. Albala describes its origins at 127-28: “The wild ancestor of Phaseolus spread from Northern Mexico to Argentina and it was domesticated independently both in the Peruvian Andes...as well as in Mexico… Exactly when these events took place is more difficult to determine, partly because archeological remains are sparse in the humid environment of Mesoamerica… Remains of P. vulgaris from a cave in the Peruvian Andes have been radiocarbon dated at about 6000 BCE and they may have been domesticated well before that … it is safest to say that these beans were domesticated several thousand years ago, without indicating a precise chronology.” Albala goes on to describe in fascinating detail the dramatic changes for both P. vulgaris and humans that occurred after Columbus encountered the New World. As P. vulgaris was incorporated into cultures across the world, the numerous bean varieties with which we are now familiar evolved and came into common use.

1. Katerina of Culinary Flavors
Athens, Greece

Bean Salad
(White Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

2. Emiglia of Tomato Kumato
Paris, France

Minestrone
(White Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

3. Valli of More Than Burnt Toast
British Columbia, Canada

Better for You Taco Salad
(Red Kidney Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

4. Maya of Konkan World
Texas, United States

Minestrone Soup
(Red Kidney Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

5. Laura of The Spiced Life
Midwest, United States

Kidney Beans with Cardamom-Yogurt Sauce
(Red Kidney Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

6. Neha of Tasty Recipes
Singapore

Red Kidney Bean (Rajma) Curry
(Red Kidney Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

7. Renuka of Fusion
Tamilnadu, India

Curried Red Kidney Beans (Rajma Gravy)
(Red Kidney Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

8. Nina of Miss Adventure at Home
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Four Bean Salad

(Red Kidney, Green, and Yellow Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris and Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum)

9. Lisa of Lisa’s Kitchen
London, Ontario, Canada

Spicy White Bean and Turnip Soup
(Cannellini Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

10. Lavi of Home Cook’s Recipes
India

Amaranth Greens and White Kidney Bean Curry (Sirukeeri Rajma Curry)
(Cannellini Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

11. Swarna of Saivam
Fremont, California, United States

Portabella Mushrooms Stuffed with Cannellini Beans
(Cannellini Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

12. Allison of Local Lemons
Berkeley, California, United States

Spring Cannellini Bean Soup with Romano Croutons
(Cannellini Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

13. Lori of Taste with the Eyes
San Pedro, California, United States

Cannellini Bean Asian Slaw with Miso Sesame Dressing
(Cannellini Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

14. Erin of You-Name-It-Free
Basel, Switzerland

Royal Purple Baked Beans
(Black Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

15. Tigerfish of Teczcape-An Escape to Food
Singapore and California, United States

Spicy Pinto Beans
(Pinto Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

16. Katie of Eat This.
Haslett, Michigan, United States

Andean Pinto Bean and Butternut Squash Soup
(Pinto Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

17. Giff of The Constables’ Larder
New York, United States

Pancetta, Chard, Cranberry Bean and Gouda Gratin
(Cranberry Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

18. Manju of Mirch Masala
Seattle, Washington, United States

Barley and Mixed Bean Soup
(Beans - Phaseolus vulgaris)

Limas and the Lesser Phaseoli: Andes
After P. vulgaris (see above), the most important of the 55 separate Phaseolus species is the lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus. Albala says at 191-93 that the lima “is native to the Andes. Those found at the Guitarrero Cave in the highlands of Peru were domesticated even before both the common bean and corn. … They are roughly contemporary with many Old World sites of bean domestication. … Like P. vulgaris, the lima bean was taken to Europe sometime in the 16th century, and also to the Philippines with the Manila galleons. It is widely grown throughout SE Asia, particularly in Burma. It was also taken to Africa from Brazil, and is now the primary dried bean eaten in the tropics there and in Madagascar. … It never really caught on as a major food in Europe, probably because the climate is not ideal for its growth.”

1. Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska

Pan-Fried Salmon with Curly Endive and Christmas Lima Beans & Christmas Lima Bean Salad
(Lima Beans – Phaseolus Lunatus)

2. Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook
New York, United States

Lima Bean and Artichoke Soup
(Lima Beans – Phaseolus Lunatus)

Tepary Beans: Native Americans
I tried tepary beans for the first time this month, because I wanted to have at least one recipe for each of Albala’s 11 bean chapters. Having done so, it’s hard to understand why it isn’t more widely available; it’s one of the best beans I’ve ever tasted. Albala explains at 203-04 that the origins of the tepary bean, Phaseolus acutifolius, “are debated since wild forms are found stretching from the Southwest through Central America. Archaeological remains in Puebla, Mexico, date back 5,000 years, but it is not known where it was first domesticated. A strong claim is made for domestication, perhaps independently, in the [American] Southwest where wild varieties can still be found. … As recently as the 1930s, the Tohono O’odham [formerly called Papago Indians] grew 1.5 million pounds of teparies a year. Half a century later the bean had almost completely disappeared.”

Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska, United States

Tepary Bean and Vegetable Stew
(Tepary Bean – Phaseolus acutifolius)

Soy: China, Japan and the World
Soy is “the most widely grown bean on the plant,” according to Albala at 209, though most of it is processed “into milk and curd and made into a variety of condiments bearing little resemblance to the humble bean.” Albala attributes this to soybean’s slight bitterness and its “unpleasant beany odor” (noting that green Japanese edamames are “a very specific cultivar bred for its mild flavor and consumed immature”). “Glycine max is the Latin name for the soybean, which was descended from another wild bean, Glycine soja. … [It] was first cultivated in the eastern half of Northern China, based on recent DNA evidence, … about 3,000 years ago, though some make a claim for Mongolia. That makes it a relative latecomer among the ancient beans, but with an extremely long pedigree nonetheless. … Although archaeological evidence may eventually push back the origin of soy domestication, 1100 BCE is for the moment the earliest certain date.” Albala 209-10.

1. Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska, United States

Mushroom and Edamame Risotto with Homemade Pancetta
(Soybeans – Glycine Max)

2. Soma of eCurry
Texas, United States

Stir Fried Ginger Tofu and Veggies with Brown Rice
(Soybeans – Glycine Max)

3. Christine of Kit’s Chow
Kitsilano, British Columbia, Canada

Savory Tofu Puffs
(Soybeans – Glycine Max)
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Thank you to everyone participating in MLLA9. If I've made any errors, or left out any entries, please let me know so I can make a correction. My Legume Love Affair - 10th Helping: Starters and Desserts for April 2009 is being hosted by Courtney of Coco Cooks.