Through my own experience and in discussion with other friends who cook with beans, I’m becoming more convinced that beans of a similar color and shape can often be substituted for each other. This is obvious within the basic groupings. Most people would be very ready to substitute kidney beans with small red beans, or navy beans with cannellini or dermason or great northern. Where it gets more interesting and more helpful is that it so often works across types. Here are some of the successes I’ve had, or heard about, so far.
- Okara (ground soybean meal) in place of pureed white beans in bean pie
- Pigeon peas in place of yellow split peas in an Iranian stew
- Black (Beluga) lentils in place of urad dal in Indian and Nepali curries
- Yellow peas in place of chickpeas in Indian curries
- Mung dal flour or yellow pea flour in place of chickpea flour
If the beans are used in ground form (either flour or puree) it may actually be impossible to tell the difference. From what I understand, yellow peas are used in some parts of Myanmar to make tohu, while chickpeas are used in others. One substitution that I’m curious about is replacing adzuki bean paste with kidney bean paste. The color should be close enough, and the taste might be close enough, especially with some added sugar, but will the texture work the same way for something like a red bean bun? I’ll just have to try it and see. This substitution has some appeal because kidney beans are so much less expensive than adzuki beans – about half the price.
If the beans hold their shape in cooking, the difference might be more obvious. The question is, does it matter? For full-on authenticity, yes, it might. But if the goal is to have a good meal with what’s on hand, it’s worth a try. The worst thing that can happen is that you’ll decide to you have to add another bean to your grocery list after all.
p.s. I don’t know why this works as often as it does. Is there some branch of food science that deals with associations of color and taste? I would love to know.
