Amazingly, only two delicious ingredients are combined to make the national dish of Anguilla. Pigeon peas and Rice! This combination can be cooked with meat which can then be used as a meal by itself, or it can be a side dish.
Pigeon Peas develop in small to medium sized pea pods, with an average of four to five developed seeds per pod. Pods range in color from a bright green when young, maturing to display brown splotching or striations, to completely dark brown almost purple in color. The inner peas are a bright green when young and mature to be a lighter goldenrod yellow. Fresh Pigeon peas are nutty in taste and offer a crispy texture.
From India Pigeon Peas traveled to East Africa and West Africa. There, it was first encountered by Europeans, so it obtained the name Congo Pea. By means of the slave trade, it came to the American continent, probably in the 17th century.
This peas can be found in many Caribbean dishes.