pigeon pea

noun

|Updated on: 17 Jun 2018

Definition of pigeon pea

: a leguminous shrubby herb (Cajanus cajan) with trifoliate leaves, yellow flowers, and flattened pods that is much cultivated especially in the tropics; also : its small highly nutritious seed

Recent Examples of pigeon pea from the Web

According to travel website TripSavvy, arroz con gandules — pigeon peas with rice — is the official dish of the island.

— kyle arnold, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Maria influx comes with more Puerto Rican cuisine," 31 Jan. 2018
Some seeds, like those of birches, waft on the wind; others, like the pigeon pea, are floaters that drift, raftlike, to other continents.

— erin blakemore, Washington Post, "These seeds will captivate you whether you’re a gardener or not," 22 Apr. 2018
As lunchtime neared, a woman working in the back of the center offered me a heaping plate of homemade arroz con gandules — rice mixed with pigeon peas and what appeared to be tiny Vienna sausages.

— rick jervis, USA TODAY, "Voices: Hurricane Maria couldn't destroy Puerto Rico's spirit-lifting food," 16 Apr. 2018
Craving avocado with their lunch of rice and pigeon peas, plantains and oxtail, a large one was hurriedly brought to their table.

— james wagner, New York Times, "The Supermarket Cafeteria That Major League Baseball Players Love," 20 Mar. 2018
Asia was home to adzuki, soybeans, winged beans, mung and urad dal, and Africa produced cowpeas, yard-long beans, pigeon peas, Dolichos lablab beans and black-eyed peas.

— margaret lauterbach, idahostatesman, "Like beans? Here’s a rundown on how to grow them | Idaho Statesman," 14 Mar. 2018
Their mofongo was off the charts, and the roast pork was pretty awesome, too, eaten with rice and pigeon peas.

— Philly.com, "Some tasty highlights," 2 Nov. 2017
Lentils, chickpeas, black grams and pigeon peas are a staple for most of India’s 1.3 billion people and demand has been growing.

— vrishti beniwal, Bloomberg.com, "India Is Said to Plan Domestic Sale of Pulses to Prevent Rotting," 9 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pigeon pea.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.