Harabara Channa Soup is a delicious, refreshing and nutritious recipe consists of black chickpeas or kala channa as the basis for this soup broth cooked along with few aromatic spices. Black beans are a great source of many dietary needs and this humble legume is a great way to prepare and eat as a meal or as a condiment for other foods. Harabara Channa soup is simple to cook and a very down to earth homely dish.
This dish is very satisfying, wholesome, and high in proteins and provides a nutritious meal. The dish is nicely made with boiled black channa puree packed with a lot of flavours. This is a wonderful soup for those finicky foodies who do not like to binge on fast foods with extra calories but like consuming beans as it is a good appetizer and gives a greater food satisfaction in a healthy manner.
Black beans are a variety of the common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and belongs to the legume family. It shares many characteristics with their fellow bean family members that include red beans (kidney beans), white beans (navy beans), yellow beans etc. The black channa are also referred to as turtle beans in reference to their shiny, dark, shell-like appearance. Black channa have a rich earthy and nutty flavour.
It also has a velvety texture that holds their shape well during cooking. Black channa or Kala chana is a variation of the commonly found chickpea but is dark brown in colour and smaller in size. It is also known as Bengal gram. Traced well back, during the Middle East 7500 years ago, the chickpea or garbanzo beans today are well known worldwide and commonly known as kabuli chana and kala chana in India and Hummus in Arabic.
The bean is a staple diet and used for delicious dips and soups in almost all of the Middle Eastern countries. Kala chana is very high in proteins and provide a nutritional meal. It also has a low glycemic index and is a good protein option for people with diabetes. Extremely rich in Saponins the bean acts as an amazing antioxidant, especially the darker beans – Kala Chana. Vegans splurge on Chickpeas as a good replacement for meat as they are rich in protein and fibre.
The easily soluble fibre from Chick peas is known to reduce bad cholesterol levels. They are rich in Zinc & Magnesium as well and are a great food choice for diabetic and insulin resistant individuals. In parts of North India, chickpeas are consumed just about every day. Black Chick peas are available whole and have a particular savoury flavour. Their cooking time varies from 30 minutes to an hour, based on variety. Chick peas can be cooked with or without salt, sautéed in butter, or combined with lightly cooked vegetables to make a delicious salad.
They are included in many traditional recipes, including Falafel and Hummus from the Middle East. In India, Kadala curry is a very popular dish made with kala channa from the Kerala cuisine and the other are the Black channa curry and kondaikadalai pachadi that is quiet popular Indian cuisine.
To prepare this incredible and healthy dish, firstly soak the black kala overnight, pressure cook the channa the next day with little salt.
Use this water for making this soup. Take little channa and grind to a paste and mix it well with the channa water and keep aside.
Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds, curry leaves, crushed garlic, green chillies and sauté well till the garlic are slightly browned.
Add pinch of hing, turmeric powder, jeera powder, pepper powder and sauté all the spices until flavourful. Add salt to taste and the water of black chickpeas and allow it to boil. After it comes to a full boil, the soup is ready.
Tips:
You can adjust the consistency of the soup as per your choice. Packed with dietary fiber, this is a food recommended for folks with high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart attack risks. The heart health benefits of black beans come not only from the high amount of fibre, but also the high levels of folate and magnesium. For those of you watching your antioxidant intake, black beans rank as high as grapes and cranberries as sources of antioxidants.
Research has found that the darker a bean’s seed coat, the higher the amount of antioxidants. Black beans are also a great source of protein for people looking for meat substitutes in their diets. Black bean is an exceptionally great legume with its unique and solid nutritional profile. They are an excellent source of molybdenum, fat-free high quality protein, dietary fiber, flavonoid anti-oxidants (anthocyanins), vitamins (B1) and minerals (folate, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus and iron).
It also contains a small amount of omega-3 fatty acids which is about 3 times more than other beans. Boiled black chana soup is considered very healthy. It also has a low glycemic index. To enjoy the benefits of the black channa, do make this recipe a part of your healthy and nutritious meal. To try this recipe, do watch the making for this recipe by clicking the below link:
https://www.vahrehvah.com/harabara-channa-soup
Enjoy Cooking!