Fast Facts: 7 Inspiring Bean Dishes from Across the Globe

Beans are served across the globe and each region has its own varieties and flavor profiles to make them unique and delicious. Here we feature 7 dishes to give you a taste of how beans are enjoyed around the world.

From Egypt: Ful Mudammas

Ful mudammas is beans cooked with onion and tomato and is a popular morning meal in Egypt. Egyptians prepare ful with dry fava beans, but cranberry beans or pink beans work, too. They eat them whole, lightly mashed, or fully mashed, topped with olive oil, melted butter, a hard-boiled egg or a fried egg. According to an Arab saying, ful is “the rich man’s breakfast, the shopkeeper’s lunch, the poor man’s supper.”

From New Orleans: Red Beans and Rice

Every Monday, you can find a pot of red beans and rice cooking in someone’s kitchen in New Orleans. As the main port of the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans was a hub for chilies and spices from the Caribbean and Latin America. These seasonings were used to flavor the local beans and provide the unique flavors for this signature New Orleans dish.

From Peru: Tacu-Tacu

Tacu-tacu is a recipe that originated to use up leftover rice and beans. Leftover rice and seasoned beans are fried in a skillet to make a large patty. It is typically served with Peruvian salsa, but can also be served with leftover meats or a fried egg.

From Spain: Fabada

This traditional, and probably best-known, Spanish bean dish extends far beyond the Asturias region where it originated. Asturian cooks use large dry white beans and include sausages, smoked pork, bacon and paprika.

From Great Britain: Beans on Toast

With the advent of home toasters came countless variations of toppings and accompaniments. In England beans on toast has been a staple in the diet for decades. As a quick snack or light and easy dinner, this comforting and cost-effective meal is a go-to for Brits and friends across the globe.

From West Africa: Cachupa

This is a famous dish from the Cape Verde islands of West Africa. The dish includes corn, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes and meat or fish made into a slow cooked stew. It is often referred to as the country’s national dish.

From India: Rajma

Rajma is the definition of Indian comfort food. Also referred to as kidney bean curry, it is a cooked dish of red kidney beans, garlic, ginger, tomato sauce, and spices like cumin seed, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, and asafetida powder. Accompanied with rice, it is a very popular dish across North India.