The yard long bean is a tender, tasty bean which grows to 40 cm (15 inches) in length, common all over Asia. When they are young and fresh they can be cooked whole, in the same way as French beans. They should be flexible rather than crisp and smaller ones, without peas formed inside them, are preferable. They are generally cut into 5 cm (2 inch) lengths and stir fried. Black eyed beans are a variety of cowpea and are the seed of the yard long bean. Watch out as this is often confused with the asparagus pea.
