When the wonderful old West Bank café Berdou’s was still around, one of its lunch specials was field peas and rice. Mr. Berdou told me he didn’t sell many orders of it. “But I like them, so we cook them almost every week,” he said. I’d never given field peas a second thought before, but they were so good that I added them to my regular bean rotation at home.

Field peas are a lot like crowder peas but smaller. They’re a light brown, bigger than lenti