Black-Eyed Beans

These are dried black-eyed beans: small pale beans, each with a black eye, dried and uncooked, ready to cook at home. In Egypt they are sold as lobia nashfa, which means dried lobia, and the stew made from them is simply called lobia. They are 100% black-eyed beans with nothing added. We buy them in bulk and pack them ourselves into resealable pouches of 500 g and 1 kg.

Black-eyed beans need no soaking: straight from the pouch they simmer in about forty-five minutes to an hour. If you soak them first for four to six hours, they cook in about thirty minutes. Cooked until just tender, they keep their shape and the black eye stays visible; cooked longer, they turn soft and creamy inside. The taste is mild and slightly earthy, and it takes on whatever goes into the pot: onion, garlic, tomato, cumin.

In Egypt they are cooked as lobia: the beans stewed in a tomato sauce with onion and garlic, sometimes with meat, and eaten with white rice. They also go into soups with tomato and vegetables, and cooled and dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, onion and parsley they make a simple bean salad.

Before cooking, spread them on a plate and pick out any small stones or husks, then rinse them in a sieve under cold water until the water runs almost clear. There is no need to soak them: cover them with plenty of cold water, about three times as much water as beans, bring them to the boil, skim off the foam and simmer for about forty-five minutes to an hour, until one crushes easily between two fingers. If you have the time, soak them for four to six hours, drain them and cook them in fresh water for about thirty minutes instead. For lobia, soften chopped onion and garlic in a little oil, add tomato paste or grated tomatoes, salt, pepper and cumin, then the cooked beans with a little of their cooking water, and simmer for about fifteen minutes until the sauce has cooked down a little; serve it with white rice. For a salad, cook them until just tender, drain and cool them, then dress them with lemon juice, olive oil, chopped onion, parsley and salt.

Black-eyed bean allergy is not common, but it does exist: if you have ever reacted to black-eyed beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas or other pulses, do not eat them. We cannot confirm that they were processed or packed away from nuts, peanuts or sesame, so if you have a food allergy, ask us before you order. Small stones can turn up in any pulses bought in bulk, which is why they are picked over before cooking. Eat them cooked, never raw.

Two things this page does not claim. Our supplier does not state where these black-eyed beans were grown or whether they were kept apart from wheat and barley, so no country is named here and they are not sold as gluten-free. Black-eyed beans are also widely sold with long lists of claimed effects, and this listing repeats none of them. They are sold as food, and nothing here is a health claim or medical advice.

Dried black-eyed beans keep for a long time, but not for ever: old beans take longer to soften, and in a warm kitchen an open pouch can draw small pantry insects. Keep the pouch pressed shut, cool and dry, away from spices and other foods with a smell of their own, or tip the beans into a jar with a tight lid. Count on about a year of best taste from delivery while the pouch stays sealed, and about six months once it is open. A little dust in the pouch is normal and rinses away. If you ever see small insects, fine webs or tiny holes in the beans, or they smell musty, they are best thrown away.