Spicy vegetable & bean recipes

Spicy vegetable and pulse dishes with chillies are popular in India and other parts of the world, where vegetarian meals form a great part of the everyday diet. While the Chilli is a spice, the less hot varieties are used as vegetables. When used in this way, it is not uncommon to find a combination of mild and hot Chillies in a recipe. Bell peppers, for example, are often stuffed with fillings spiced with Chillies.   You will also find Bell peppers and chillies being combined to provide spicy flavour and substance to vegetarian curries.

This section will explore spicy vegetable and pulse recipes with Chillies from around the world.

Beans are highly nutritious, full of protein and healthy.  They also combine well with Chillies and are used to add flavour, bulk and texture to both spicy vegetable and meat recipes.

Beans have their origin in both the Americas and Europe. Those with their origins in America go back many thousands of years. So much so, that they have been linked with beans in the Guitarrero Cave discovery. In archaeological diggings on the site, evidence was found that both beans and Chilles were cultivated in Peru as early as 8,000–7,500 BCE.

When the Europeans first arrived in America, they discovered beans they were considered far superior to the pulses than they had been used to in the Old World.  As a result, they were quickly adopted and soon spread throughout Europe, Africa and Asia as part of the Columbian exchange

Where are Chillies used with beans?

The world's top bean eating nations are Myanmar, Brazil, India and Mexico. In these countries, you will find many types of beans mixed with Chillies to make spicy food.  The following are the more well-known

Pinto beans.

Used in Mexico to make Frijoles Pintos picantes, vegetarian Tacos and refried beans. In Brazil, these beans are used to make Feijoada, and in the USA, Cowboy beans &  vegetarian or beef Chilis

Soybean

In  India, soybean is widely used in Soya protein recipes and whole in curries like Soys Masala

Chickpeas ( Garbanzo beans)

They are used In India and Mexico to make dishes like Chana Masala Lamb, Chickpea Sikandar, Mexican spicy chickpeas and Mexican chickpea salad. In Myanmar, these beans are used to make spicy dishes with Shan Tofu

Kidney beans

These are used in India to make spicy kidney bean curry,  Punjabi Rajma Masala, and other curries. In the USA, the kidney bean is most known for use in  Chili con carne

Mung Beans

In Indian cooking, Moong Dhal (among many other dishes) is made with this bean.   Mexican-Style Mung Bean Tostadas  are a typical dish made in Mexico

And finally

Other countries where lots of beans and chillies are eaten include Jamaica (Caribbean ital bean curry), Honduras (Baleadas )  and Cuba (Cuban black beans). This is in addition to many countries in Africa where spicy beans are eaten. Examples are   Moin Moin from Nigeria and Chakalaka from South Africa. This list is by no means comprehensive. There are thousands of varieties of beans and Chillies. The combinations that can potentially be made are certainly massive