Some of the products that were part of the Columbian Exchange, the great transfer of products between the Americas and the Old World, are well known. We know we got chocolate, corn, pineapples and turkey and gave them coffee, wheat, bananas and chicken. Some of the products we got, like chillies and potatoes, are so much a part of Old World now it’s hard to imagine they were never here, but most of us do know it, at least we would if we weren’t sleeping in history and geography classes in school.
But some are confusing, like legumes. Because there are so many kinds of dals, peas and beans, and they come in so many different forms (in the pod, shelled fresh, dried, whole, husked, split, flour) and these forms can have very different uses, while biologically very different legumes can look and be used in the same way, there is immense confusion between them. Which is why it can be complicated when someone asks: “Did we have chole-puri or rajma-chawal before the Americas were discovered?”
To which the answer is yes to the first and no to the second. Dals like mung and urad, lentils (masur), peas, chickpeas (chole) and pigeon peas (tur) were all Old World staples, while rajma belongs to a family called Phaseolus which was a New World staple. But the fact that both Old and New Worlds had legumes, which were used in the same way, as a source of vegetable protein and to fix nitrogen in farmed soils, meant that it was easy for the varieties to be interchanged and adopted.
The New World varieties did better. They were found to grow faster, were hardier, tasted better and stored better than Old World equivalents. (One reason, possibly, was that the Americas, which had fewer protein sources, had greater nutritional dependence on them and so had developed them more). In particular, the larger varieties of Phaseolus were found to be more versatile than the best known large Old World bean, the fava or broad bean (Vicia faba).
Fava beans are an ancient food, particularly in places like Egypt, where they still are a staple, called fuul. But they have thick skins, which need longer cooking, and a small, but significant percentage of people are allergic to them. Phaseolus beans have none of these defects (some wild varieties have toxins, but these disappear on cooking and are not present in most cultivated varieties) and one in particular, a large white bean which European explorers first encountered in Peru, so called Lima beans, was found to be so close to broad beans, that it is now often called by that name.
Placing the two side by side shows the differences: favas are tan brown and slightly knubbly while Limas are ivory white, flat and smooth. Their taste is also subtly different, with Limas having a very faint, attractively tangy bitterness along with a creamy mouthfeel, which is why they are sometimes called butter beans (though the term is more often used for a smaller variety from Mexico). Favas are nutty tasting and more mealy, as are chickpeas, the other large sized Old World legume.
But essentially all three can be used in similar ways, in dishes where either you want whole beans, soft, yet holding their shape and slick with a flavouring sauce, or pounded into a purée like hummus. This is usually made with chickpeas, but is also delicious made with Lima beans, whose slight bitterness, I think, makes them even more suitable for versions flavoured with herbs like basil or dill. Also, I think the creamy texture of fully cooked Limas makes for a more velvety purée.
I wouldn’t say Lima beans are my favourite Phaseolus, since it has competition from rajma, whose name Phaseolus vulgaris simply means it is common, but also suggests its robust texture and strong tasting delights. But Lima beams, which are Phaseolus lunatus var.macrocarpus (sometimes P.limensis) have an alluring elegance of their own, and deserve to be known much better than they are. They are grown across India, under names like pavta, papdi vaal, seem or mochakottai (though, as is inevitable with legumes, these terms are all used for other varieties as well), yet they can surprisingly hard to find.
This may be because their size startles people – the dried ones swell up quite hugely. But this size is also the secret of their appeal, since it helps them cross the line between legumes and starchy vegetables like tubers. It is interesting to cook them with potatoes and lots of spices, since they pick up flavours as well, but offer variations of texture in the same dish. Cooking them with completely different vegetables like greens or gourds is also good, since they contrast in texture, but compliment in taste. (Fresh Lima beans, which are available for only a short period, are worth cooking as vegetables in their own right).
Ken Albala in his book Beans: A History says that Lima beans were taken in the 16th century eastward from South America to Europe and Africa, and westward to the Spanish owned Philippines. They didn’t catch on much in Europe, other than Spain, where they are part of a traditional paella, but they became hugely important in Africa. This was where Indian indentured labourers in South Africa discovered them and put them in bean curry, which would in turn go into the famous Durban dish of bunny (for bania) chow, which is bean curry served in a hollowed out half loaf of bread.
At the same time, probably from the Philippines route, Limas were getting established in Southeast Asia, particularly Burma. Albala writes that it became “so acculturated in these places that synonyms include Rangoon bean, Burma bean” – and I was fascinated to discover in Dadimano Varso, the wonderful Palanpuri Jain cookbook, a recipe for Rangooni vaal, which is Limas in a tangy, ajwain-accented sauce. Did the name of the dish just come from the common name for the beans, or because Palanpuris, who are notable gem dealers, discovered them while trading in gem-rich Burma?
Lima beans are so versatile that I have found it good to have a supply in the fridge, ready cooked (soaked overnight and then briefly put in a pressure cooker, with minimum water, so it becomes a creamy coating). Once cooked they can be quickly made into Indian dishes like Rangooni vaal, or added to bulk out other vegetables in a curry. They are also probably the bean that best goes into salads – other beans tend to become too chewy and monotonous, but softly yielding Limas are great when mixed with greens, particularly strong-tasting ones like peppery arugula (rocket).
They can be whipped into a dip like the hummus variant, or mashed, still semi-whole, with onions and other cooked vegetables into veggie burgers – most bean based burgers taste too stodgy, but meaty-yet-soft Limas avoid that trap. There are also American dishes like succotash, made of corn kernels cooked with Lima beans which I haven’t tried yet, but I know is a traditional favourite, especially around now, when nights are getting colder and a filling, yet low-fat and nutritious dish is welcome. This is a traditional dish at Thanksgiving, which has just got over, and it certainly seems appropriate to include Lima beans among the many foods for which to give thanks, in getting from the New World.