South American Beans & Bean Dishes

[helenjp]

Looking for sources of dried beans in Japan, I hit upon a place serving the Brazilian and Peruvian expats here.

Carioca, canario, panamito...what dishes really show these off? In particular, how different are carioca, navy, and canario beans? I usually use a Japanese type of small white bean which is like a small and tender navy bean.

Some of the beans are known and loved by me...some I know by name only, and some are totally new to me. Please tell me all...what bean dish does each variety make you think of?

Brown lentils, kidney beans, black turtles, navy, black eyed peas, chickpeas, green split peas - how are they eaten in Central and South America?

And what about dried corn and dried potatoes...I'd love to try some recipes that combine beans with these ingredients, and have a very old recipe book by Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz, but how do people bring these ingredients to their dinner tables NOW?

[helenjp]

Porotos Granados...my Lambert Ortiz book specifies cranberry beans (as shellies) or other dried small white beans, cooked with onion, tomato, and corn, and seasoned with paprika and oregano.

I've seen other recipes with garlic, or cumin or basil, and some don't have tomato. Some have a dash of vinegar.

Mine is now in the pressure cooker, with tora-mame (a kind of brown/white medium sized patterned bean) without tomato, with vinegar, with paprika and oregano. As soon as I started to saute the paprika and onion, my husband (doing duty at the chopping board) decided that this was going to be tasty stuff, and not the kind of herby beans he dreads.

Edited October 24, 2010 by helenjp (log)