Skip the soak. These slow-cooked and seasoned single-serving packages of beans from A Dozen Cousins are shelf-stable and ready to eat. There are three varieties in the new line, all vegan and preservative-free: Cuban black beans have a nice whiff of cumin and when puréed and thinned with stock provide soup; Trinidadian chickpea curry is a good base for a main dish to which chicken, tofu or seafood make nice additions; and the Mexican cowboy beans, though needing a little salt to my taste, become a hearty side dish or even, corralled with a vinaigrette, a salad. The name of the Berkeley, Calif., company has to do with the family of the founder, Ibraheem Basir, originally from Brooklyn.
A Dozen Cousins beans, 10-ounce packages, $24.99 for six, amazon.com, adozencousins.com.
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