The market · Beans and pulses · South Asia, The Americas
Kidney beans
Large red beans that hold their shape — rajma in Punjab, chilli con carne in Texas, red beans and rice in Louisiana.
earthy · creamy
What to do with it
MinahasanBrenebonA thick soup of red kidney beans with pork, nutmeg and clove, a Minahasan descendant of Dutch brown-bean soup.No one here has made it yet
PunjabiDal makhaniWhole black lentils and kidney beans, simmered for hours with butter, tomato and cream until thick and velvety.No one here has made it yetPersianGhormeh sabziA deep green stew of herbs fried slowly in oil, with lamb, kidney beans and whole dried limes.No one here has made it yetPersianAsh reshtehA thick soup of beans, chickpeas, lentils, herbs and flat noodles, topped with kashk, fried onions and dried mint.No one here has made it yet
GeorgianLobioRed beans cooked soft, partly mashed, with coriander, garlic, spices and sometimes walnuts, often in a clay pot.No one here has made it yetCreole and CajunRed beans and riceRed kidney beans cooked for hours with a ham bone, smoked sausage and the trinity until creamy, over rice.No one here has made it yetJamaicanRice and peasRice cooked with kidney beans in coconut milk, with thyme, spring onion, allspice and a whole scotch bonnet.No one here has made it yet
PunjabiDal makhaniWhole black lentils and kidney beans, simmered for hours with butter, tomato and cream until thick and velvety.No one here has made it yetPersianGhormeh sabziA deep green stew of herbs fried slowly in oil, with lamb, kidney beans and whole dried limes.No one here has made it yetPersianAsh reshtehA thick soup of beans, chickpeas, lentils, herbs and flat noodles, topped with kashk, fried onions and dried mint.No one here has made it yetGeorgianLobioRed beans cooked soft, partly mashed, with coriander, garlic, spices and sometimes walnuts, often in a clay pot.No one here has made it yetCreole and CajunRed beans and riceRed kidney beans cooked for hours with a ham bone, smoked sausage and the trinity until creamy, over rice.No one here has made it yetJamaicanRice and peasRice cooked with kidney beans in coconut milk, with thyme, spring onion, allspice and a whole scotch bonnet.No one here has made it yetKinds
- Dark red
- The common one.
- Himalayan rajma
- Smaller, softer-cooking beans, such as those from Jammu; prized in north India.
Goes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- South Asian grocers for dried, in bulk.
- Worth knowing
- Raw kidney beans contain a toxin that only a proper boil destroys: soak them, then boil hard for at least ten minutes before simmering. Don't slow-cook them from dried.
Kitchens that keep it in
Punjab — northern India and eastern PakistanPunjabiWheat, dairy and the tandoor: rich, generous cooking from the land of five rivers, and the source of much of what the world calls Indian food.10 classicsJamaica — the Greater Antilles, in the western Caribbean south of CubaJamaicanScotch bonnet heat and allspice warmth, meat smoked slowly over pimento wood, and coconut, thyme and spring onion in nearly everything.10 classics