Black beans are always impressive by the black cover. There are different types of black beans that be easy to make many people confused. Sometimes we simply call the black beans in the case we see the beans with black covers. They are look to be seems as one by the cover color but they are not and there are different name for each types. An example for the difference related to black beans is same with the case of urad beans and black turtle beans, two of most popular black beans in the pulses market.
Commonly, urad bean and black turtle beans are same with the black cover. They are in the Fabaceae family but urad bean belongs to vigna mungo group while black turtle bean belongs to phaselous vulgaris. And related to black bean topic, if in the last article, the black turtle bean was mentioned and in this article, urad bean is mentioned mainly.
As in the introduction above, urad bean belongs to vigna mungo. Vigna mungo or mungo bean of the Fabaceae family is a type of bean which is widely cultivated in Asia. The name Urad, black gram or black lentil is popular used in India. Besides, there are various name of this bean which used in other Asian countries.
Description
Urad bean plants are annual herbs which have narrow pods (about 5-6 cm long) and small black seeds (about 5-6 seeds per pod). The seeds are as kidney shaped with a white spot at a side. Although the outer layer of the bean is black, the inner is in white color.
Nutrition content
Urad bean is one of the black beans which is rich in protein content. There is about 25g protein in 100g of bean. Besides, other nutrients are also consisted richly as potassium, calcium, iron, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin and essential amino acid…
This bean is also one of the black beans to be believed that it is helpful in reducing cholesterol level.
As food
As mostly the bean types in general and black beans in particular, urad bean would be soaked before cooking (about few hours). In culinary, urad bean could be cooked as split or whole and after been cooked it will have buttery and slightly sweet taste.
This type of bean is joined in varieties of dish from sweet to savory. It is used widely as a main ingredient of Urad dal, a popular dish which is served over rice in India. The bean would be boiled with turmeric and salt and possibly added other ingredients as tomatoes, tamarind, mango…
Besides, urad bean is also used to make sweet soup, sauces, to cook with rice and many other dishes. Especially, it is also combined with the oriental vegetations to use as medicine.
For the nutrition content and good effect, urad bean is same with other black beans to be used popularly in the dietaries in many regions especially Nepal and India.
