Don’t just eat rice and steamed buns as your staple food! This kind of bean can lower blood lipids and control blood pressure, and its nutrition is as good as beef... Try it now

Chickpeas, a name that sounds a little unfamiliar in real life, has begun to appear frequently in the recipes of many fitness bloggers and health experts in recent years.

If you haven’t eaten it yet, I strongly recommend you to try it~ Because chickpeas are not only sweet and soft, but also have excellent nutritional value!

Chickpeas have a pointed tip that looks like a hawk's beak.

High protein, high dietary fiber, low fat content

Nutritionally as good as meat

1. Rich in protein

The protein content of dry chickpeas is as high as 21.2 grams per 100 grams, and even cooked chickpeas can reach 8.86 grams per 100 grams. The protein content of beef is 18.3 grams per 100 grams, which is higher than that of cooked chickpeas, but chickpeas have other advantages in protein supplementation -

Chickpeas belong to the category of beans, such as red beans, mung beans, and kidney beans. In theory, the quality of protein in these beans is not very good, and they mainly provide carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and B vitamins. However, chickpeas are a different category, and their protein is high-quality protein, comparable to soybeans and meat. This is mainly because chickpea protein contains all 8 essential amino acids for the human body, and the proportion is reasonable, and the utilization rate is very high.

2. High in dietary fiber and low in fat

In addition to its high protein content, chickpeas also have the advantages of high dietary fiber content, low fat content and high quality compared to red meat.

Compared to beef, which contains almost no dietary fiber, dried chickpeas have a dietary fiber content of 11.6 g/100 g (cooked chickpeas have a dietary fiber content of 7.6 g/100 g), which can be said to be a crushing victory. This is naturally a more friendly choice for friends who want to supplement dietary fiber to lose weight and promote intestinal peristalsis. If you feel "lonely in your mouth" during the fat loss period, the best snack is chickpeas.

In addition, the fat content of cooked chickpeas is 2.59 g/100 g, which is also lower than beef (4.2 g/100 g). Moreover, the fat in chickpeas is mainly unsaturated fatty acids, which is much better than beef, which is mainly saturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids have the function of regulating lipid metabolism in the body. As long as they are not consumed in excess, they have more benefits than disadvantages in controlling blood lipids.

Roasted chickpeas. Copyright image. Reproduction may cause copyright disputes.

Replace regular staple food

Healthier

The benefits of chickpeas go far beyond supplementing dietary fiber and protein as mentioned above:

1. Low glycemic index

Compared with common staple foods, such as rice (glycemic index 90), white noodles (glycemic index 82), and white steamed bread (glycemic index 88), the glycemic index of chickpeas is very low, only 33 to 36, and is a low glycemic index food (a glycemic index of less than 55 is considered a low glycemic index food).

For friends who need to control blood sugar or weight, chickpeas are a better choice.

2. High in Potassium

Compared with ordinary staple foods, chickpeas are also a typical high-potassium food. Every 100 grams of dry chickpeas contains 830 mg of potassium, and every 100 grams of cooked chickpeas contains 291 mg of potassium, which are several times higher than the potassium content of rice (30 mg/100 g) and boiled noodles (15 mg/100 g).

If friends with high blood pressure can eat more chickpeas, they can help regulate blood pressure levels by "reducing sodium and supplementing potassium".

3. High in minerals and B vitamins

As a miscellaneous bean, chickpeas, like red beans and mung beans, also have higher mineral and B vitamin content than refined rice and white flour. For modern people who often eat fast food and refined grains, chickpeas or other miscellaneous grains can supplement the right amount of minerals and B vitamins every day, which can play a certain positive role in improving the sub-healthy state of modern people caused by the lack of minerals and B vitamins.

Considering that chickpeas are miscellaneous beans after all and mainly provide carbohydrates, we can usually use chickpeas to replace part of the staple food (for example, replace rice with 1 tael of chickpeas). This can not only supplement dietary fiber, but also provide a certain amount of high-quality protein, which is beneficial to improving health and controlling weight.

Chickpeas

Eat it this way, it tastes better

Unlike other beans, chickpeas have a higher fat content (higher than red beans, mung beans and other beans), which makes them very dense and smooth after being cooked or made into hummus, and also has a rich nutty aroma, which is very similar to oily nuts such as walnuts, peanuts, and hazelnuts.

In the Middle East, such as Turkey, Lebanon, Israel and other countries, hummus is a very common "sauce" for meals. They spread a layer of hummus on pita bread, and then add vegetables and meat to enjoy.

Today, people use it more as a dipping sauce to pair with fresh vegetables, such as raw carrots, raw celery sticks, etc.

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

If you are also interested in chickpeas, you can place an order on Taobao immediately and follow the steps below:

1. Hummus

This is probably the simplest way to make it. Wash the chickpeas overnight and soak them in clean water for at least 6-7 hours. Put them directly into a food processor after cooking. If you want to season it, you can add tahini, lemon juice and a spoonful of olive oil. You can also add some salt, pepper, chili and other seasonings according to your taste, and you can make smooth hummus!

After it is done, you can store it in a clean sealed container and refrigerate it. You can use it to spread on steamed buns or bread to add a lot of flavor to your breakfast. Remember to eat it within a week.

2. Chickpea milk

In addition to pureeing, soaked chickpeas can also be made into soy milk by adding more water, or with soybeans, pear cubes, red dates, black sesame seeds, etc. The silky, rich, fresh and sweet taste is much more delicious than ordinary soy milk, believe me.

3. Chickpea and multi-grain porridge

Throw chickpeas, red beans and mung beans into the pressure cooker to cook multi-grain porridge. The cooked chickpeas have a dense texture like chestnuts, which can be chewed by both the elderly and children, and is suitable for the whole family.

4. Spiced chickpeas

Just like cooking spiced peanuts, add salt, pepper, star anise, chili, bay leaves and other spices and seasonings to the soaked chickpeas according to your taste, and simmer until the beans taste powdery and sticky. That's it!

Cooked chickpeas can be used as a side dish or a snack to fill your stomach. By the way, replacing the pork head that my dad eats with wine with spiced chickpeas is also great!

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Speaking of other delicious ways to eat chickpeas, I suggest that when you go to Xinjiang, in addition to eating barbecue and big plate chicken, you can also pay attention to chickpeas. There are many kinds of chickpea delicacies in the market, such as chickpea baked naan, crispy roasted chickpeas, chickpea mutton offal, etc. This is how the people in the origin eat chickpeas!

Author: Wang Lu, registered nutritionist in China

Review | Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center