Chatpata beans made with broad beans has a nice tangy taste, slightly spicy and a nutty flavor.
Chatpata beans are an amazing dish which can be made of any beans like French beans, broad beans or cluster beans. A dish that has a more prominent beany taste and the seeds inside are plump, meaty and mildly sweet like baby lima beans which gives a nice nutty taste and slightly earthly flavor. Usually many prepare this luscious chatpata beans with the broad beans which is also known as Chikkudukaya in Telugu. It is a very popular south Indian dish especially in Andhra Pradesh. Compared to the other green beans, the broad beans is very enticing and tasty once prepared. Back in Andhra, it is a popular vegetable grown.
Backyards covered with these bean plants provide shelter from the hot sun; they not only enrich the soil with their roots (legumes) - the plump beans are nature’s tiny capsules of proteins. Very nourishing and tasty! You can find Indian broad beans during spring and summer. It’s one of the seasonal vegetables and craved for by one and all for its fantastic taste. Chatpata beans or Indian Broad Beans fry is an all time favorite, especially in the villages, broad beans is very long with big seeds in the pod. The bigger the seeds, tastier the vegetable is. The broad bean is packed with a lot of fibre and nutrients. The Chatpata beans have a nice tangy taste, slightly spicy and a nutty flavor.
The broad bean is most likely native to Mediterranean Africa and is one of the most ancient of beans, with a history dating back to the Bronze Age and the ruins of Troy. By the Iron Age broad beans had spread to Europe. With their slightly earthy flavor you can taste the history in every bite. In traditional temperate and cold climate agricultural societies it was spring, rather than winter, when food stores were in danger of running low and famine threatened. This is precisely when broad beans deliver their protein rich crop. Broad beans are good sources of protein, fibre, vitamins A and C, potassium and iron.
They also contain L-dopa, a chemical the body uses to produce dopamine, an important neurotransmitter involved in learning, mood control and motivation. In few places, the broad beans are fried to make the tough outer hull crunchy or they are deliciously boiled and blended into a spicy dip with lemon, garlic, chilli and yoghurt. The immature pods can be steamed and served whole. The fresh, firm and plump dark green lima beans work best for this recipe and you wouldn’t want to compromise when you prepare this dish.
To prepare the Chatpata beans, firstly wash and cut the beans into pieces and keep aside. Take a pan add oil and once it get hot, add cumin seeds, urad dal, chopped onions and salt. Saute well and fry till the onions are slightly browned. Add turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste and then add the beans and sauté all the ingredients well.
Now add chilli powder, coconut powder (optional), and little water to cook. Add sugar, vinegar and close it with a lid for the beans to be cooked well. Once the beans are cooked, add butter sauté and add freshly chopped coriander leaves.
Cook for another 2 mins and switch off the flame. Serve warm with rice or chapati and enjoy this classic sweet and sour, nutty and beany, Andhra curry. Hope this recipe helps all broad bean haters to reconsider and give these beans its well deserved recognition.
Do prepare this yummy delicious chatpata beans do watch the making of the recipe at:
https://www.vahrehvah.com/chat-pata-beans
