Tinned Beans

Rajma chawal is Sunday lunch across North India, and red kidney beans are the heart of it: slow-cooked in onion, tomato and ginger until the gravy turns thick and glossy. Black-eyed beans, called lobia or chawli, make a lighter curry and a good salad. Gungo peas, the Jamaican name for pigeon peas, are the peas in rice and peas, and they are the same pulse that Indian cooks know as toor when split and dried. Butter beans, rosecoco and black beans round out the shelf for stews, chilli, Mexican refried beans and salads, with a large catering tin of Spanish bayo beans for bigger kitchens.

Tinned beans are already soft, so add them to a finished masala and simmer for ten to fifteen minutes. Mash a ladleful to give rajma its creamy body. Chilli beans come in a seasoned sauce and only need heating. For rice and peas, cook the peas with coconut milk, thyme, spring onion and a whole scotch bonnet before adding the rice.

Rinse beans well in a sieve to wash off the thick canning liquid, unless a recipe asks for it. Chickpeas are next door under tinned chickpeas, both part of tinned beans and chickpeas. For cooking from dry, see rajma and dried beans, and add depth with tinned coconut milk for rice and peas.