Pearl beans 珍珠豆 or also known as Borlotti beans / Roman beans (usually called Cranberry beans in the States) are bred in Italy to have a thicker skin. These brightly color pinkish pods and beans were so beautiful with random pink spots. It is so delicious, creamy soft & mushy. Nutty flavor, but nothing like peanut at all. The only bummer thing is that they lose that beautiful color when cooked.
The beans cook & turn soft pretty fast. you can only add them into the soup in the last 15 mins of boiling soup. If you add too early into the soup, it will become mushy & melt into the soup.
Pearl beans is cholesterol free and has many nutrients benefits. It has excellent source of fiber & folate to help regulate digestive systems, contains folate which are helpful for pregnant women and their babies, good source of potassium to help maintain healthy blood pressure, contains iron & copper which is essential for new blood cell formation, full of protein & amino acids to help build muscles & body tissues.
Try this sweet tasting sweet soup with a fragrant nutty flavor of pearl beans. Easy to cook with just 4 simple ingredients.
Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 pc Sweet Corn - chop into small pieces
1 pc Carrot - cut into small pieces
180g Pearl Beans (weight with whole pod) - about 12 pcs big size pod
230g Chicken Carcasses / bones
1.3L Water
Salt to taste
Water for blanching chicken carcasses
Step by Step:
1. Lightly blanch chicken carcasses / bones over boiling water for a few minutes to remove blood & impurities. Rinse and set aside.
2. Bring water to a boil and add in chicken carcasses, sweet corn and carrot. Let it boil and reduce heat and let it simmer for 50 minutes.
3. Remove pearl beans from the pod and rinse well. Add into boiling soup and boil for another 15 mins until beans turned tender soft.
4. Season with salt and ready to serve. Serve hot.
Happy Cooking & enjoy..