Besan or gram flour is a pulse flour made from chana dal or chickpea flour (split Bengal gram) or brown/ kaala chana, a chickpea. It is a staple ingredient in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, including Indian cuisine, Bangladeshi, Burmese cuisine, Nepali cuisine, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Caribbean, and Lunigiana cuisines.
Characteristics
Gram flour contains a high proportion of
carbohydrates,
higher fiber relative to other flours, no
gluten,
and a higher proportion of
protein than other flours.
Dishes
Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean
Gram flour is in popular use in the Indian subcontinent and the
Caribbean, where it is used to make the following:
In Andhra Pradesh, it is used in a curry with gram flour cakes called senaga pindi kura () and is eaten with chapati or puri, mostly during winter for breakfast.
Southeast and East Asia
Gram flour, which is called
pe hmont (ပဲမှုန့်, lit. 'bean flour') in
Burmese language, is commonly used in
Burmese cuisine. Roasted gram flour is commonly added to season
Burmese salads, and is the principal ingredient of
Burmese tofu.
Roasted gram flour is also used to thicken several noodle soup dishes, including
mohinga and ohn no khao swè.
Gram flour is also used to make jidou liangfen, a Yunnanese dish similar to Burmese tofu salad.
Southern Europe
Along the coast of the
Ligurian Sea, flour made from garbanzo beans, which are a different variety of chickpea closely related to Bengal gram, is used to make a thin pancake that is baked in the oven. This popular street food is called
farinata in
Italian cuisine,
fainâ in
Genoa,
calda in
Carrara, and is known as
socca or
cade in
French cuisine. It is used to make
panelle, a
fritter in
Sicilian cuisine, and
panisses, a similar fritter from
France. In
Spanish cuisine, gram flour is an ingredient for tortillitas de camarones.
Also in
Cyprus and
Greece, it is used as a garnishing ingredient for the funeral ritual food
koliva, blessed and eaten during Orthodox memorial services. In the cuisine of
Antakya in Turkey, it is used in the preparation of
hummus.
North Africa
In Algeria and East Morocco, they make a dish called
karantika from unroasted chickpea flour, which is topped with beaten egg and baked in the oven. The dish is also called
garantita or
karantita (originated from the Spanish term
calentica, which means 'hot').
See also
-
Kinako
-
List of chickpea dishes
-
Oralu kallu, a type of grinding machine using stone to produce flour in some parts of India
Notes
