The Lovable Lobia

Also known as chawli beans or black-eyed beans, it is one of the commonly available varieties in the family of legumes and pulses. These have come a long way offering their fruitful uses and benefits to us in our diets over the years. Lobia is very popular in our day to day cooking and is prepared in a number of ways – from starters to soups, from dips to salads from stews to curries and from Chaats to kebabs!

Also Read: Fantabulous French Beans

Lobia, to me as a chef, has been very kind enough to come about getting itself incorporated and transform into various forms, textures and even accepting flavours on the whole. It gives great opportunities to impress my guests with wondrous recipes of lobia, for instance, the sun-dried tomato and lobia paniyarams, the chawli bean pancakes, the lobia waffles with peanut butter salsa, nizami nargisi lobia wale chaap, black-eyed beans in coconut gravy, lobia cheelas, dosas and uttappams, etc.

Also Read: The Cozy Cauliflower

Here are a few health benefits of Lobia or Black-Eyed Beans:

1. Lobia is full of proteins, fiber and great source of potassium in our day to day diet.

2. It is also a good source of iron and assist a lot in weight loss as well.

3. Lobia is good for the heart, a great anti-oxidant and also low in fat.

4. It is good for our bone health and also helps in lowering the blood pressure.

5. It promotes skin health and is also said to wash away free radicals. Overall it has most of the essential nutrients for our body.

Also Read: Brown Rice Relishes

A few Culinary Uses of Lobia or Chawli Beans:

1. Soaked and boiled, add a dash of chaat masala or salt and crushed black pepper with a splash of fresh lime in a bowl. It is heavenly!

2. Chawli beans, as it is also called, is a popular choice for us to make in a gravy form, while some like it with steaming hot boiled rice or jeera rice and some prefer to have phulkas or hot parathas, salad and curd or raita.

3. Black-eyed peas/beans are also popular in many international cuisines as well – from being tossed into salads and quick-fix meal bowls to one-pot dishes, stir-fries, baked dishes and stews!

4. Try lobia with a number of exotic veggies like zucchini, Babycorn, red capsicums, asparagus, mushrooms etc and add a touch of garlic and tomatoes in a stew format with fresh herbs and simmer it, serve the stew with toasted garlic bread.

4. While many of us like lobia with a spicy wet coconut-based masala – the flavour of the coconut compliments chawli beans quite well – it can also be enjoyed with dosas, uttappams, appams etc. too.

5. Lobia with fresh greens like methi, dill leaves, palak, coriander welcome each other pretty well. It can be prepared as a main course or even as a side dish to go with the main course with less oil and spices – healthy and nutri-rich.

6. Lobia – in the form of dahi bhallas, Kachoris, steamed lobia idlis, dhokla with lobia ka atta – goes well into a handvo concept as well. Always try to think of a mix- n- match concept when it comes to ingredients like lobia since it needs a little planning and it emerges as a winner at the end of it.

Also Read: Let’s Cook Cool This Summer!

Do try out these Simple – Healthy – Nutritious Lobia Recipes:

Recipe 1: Lajawab Lobia Curry

Recipe 2: Stewed Black-eyed Beans with Chicken

Recipe 3: Spinach with Chawli Beans Masala

Recipe 4: Rangeela Lobia Chaat

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are of the author solely. TheRise.co.in neither endorses nor is responsible for them.