Chickpeas, they are delicious. Today, let's take a look at two commonly available types of chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans available at Indian markets near you. If you know what to look for, and you know what to ask for, you can buy the freshest chickpeas at the best price and cook them yourself with no hassle.
This. Is. Kabuli Chana vs Kala Chana !
Why purchase those old bags of beans that sit on the shelf at the American grocery store? White Americans are eating the most pathetic amount of beans and legumes... Some estimates Peg white Americans as eating only 5.5 pounds per person per year of beans and legumes (source: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-hispanic-paradox-why-do-latinos-live-longer/ )
Luckily, your Indian friends have got you covered! (Indian via India, not Native American in this case) That's right... Indian grocery stores are located conveniently in most major cities. If you like purchasing the freshest food at the best price... Then you want to go to the place that SELLS VOLUME.
For that reason, I advise avoiding purchasing dried beans and lentils in common American grocery stores. The price difference may not be that great depending on the time of the year... (as you'll see in the video... Indian grocery stores run a secret blowout sale at the same time every year! ...Ermm... more on that in a moment.)
BUT your soon-to-be favorite vendor at the Indian grocery store offers one major advantage: Chickpeas are a staple food in India and many other cultures of the near East. For that reason alone, you can count on any well trafficked Indian market selling chickpeas in VOLUME, frequently turning over their inventory of one of their best sellers. The chickpea.
That's right. The chickpea. Also known as the garbanzo bean. This delicious and humble legume is available on the cheap, if you know what to look for and what to ask for... That's where we come in With KNOWLEDGE™.
That's correct Good Sir! Learning about healthy affordable whole plant Foods constitutes KNOWLEDGE™ ...annnnd KNOWLEDGE™ is Liberty!
Free yourself from the tyranny of having to purchase canned beans or stale shelf-sitting-dust-collecting dried beans from American grocery stores where they have been ignored by white people for decades!
Go to the SOURCE and get some Kabuli Chana and/or Kala Chana!
wait... What? ...I thought we were talking about chickpeas?
Yes!
Chana is the Indian word for chickpea! (KNOWLEDGE™). Kabuli Chana is the name you will often find chickpeas/garbanzo beans sold as when purchasing them at the Indian market. They also sell another delicious variety called Kala Chana. Kala Chana, also known as Bengal gram is a smaller darker chickpea variety that you should not overlook. Take a look at this video so you can see and learn the difference for yourself:
This...is... pimping.
You need this pimping in your life, biatch!
You need... Kabuli Chana and Kala Chana.
Now... Back to that KNOWLEDGE™.... About that Secret annual sale
Chances are... Every year around the time of Ramadan... The Indian market in your neighborhood is likely running a blowout sale on delicious staple food items like:
- basmati rice ("Basmati" derives from the Hindi/Urdu बासमती باسمتی bāsmatī, literally meaning "fragrant" (Sanskrit बासमती, bāsamatī). Basmati rice is believed to have been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for centuries) [source https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmati ]
- Certain flours you've never tried;
- One or more dried legumes; and
- Sweet treats like medjool dates.
You need this in your life.
Go.
Go discover kabuli Chana. Go discover kala Chana.
Go before the Secret sale is over. Go pay $2.99 for 4 lb of dried chickpeas. Go before this opportunity passes you up, sitting on your ass reading blog posts on the internet. We all do it. But Go. Carb the fuck up.
Eat whole plant Foods.