Gram Flour

[Joy]

I have a 3 lb bag that was used for onion bhajia batter. What else would it be good for?

Edited February 18, 2003 by Joy (log)

[Suzanne F]

Anything you might coat with plain/AP flour before cooking, you can use this (not necessarily South Asian foods). I recently did some deep-fried mussels, adding some spice to the gram flour. Quite nice.

Edited February 18, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

[Suvir Saran]

You can make spinach and onion bhajia and use it as pakoras for Karhi.

Karhi is a chickpea flour and yogurt sauce that is flavored with mustard seeds, some fenugreek seeds, asafetida and curry leaves.

You can make cheelas (pancakes), you can make gatte kee sabzi (a dish from Rajasthan, where the flour is made into a thick dough, steamed and then cut into cubes and cooked in a sauce).

There are many other ways.. it is a very versatiole flour... and as SuzanneF says you can use it for most anything.

[BettyK]

Please let me get this straight...

Chickpea flour = besan = gram flour

Correct?

[torakris]

I thought besan (gram flour) was chickpea flour as well, but I could be mistaken.

I have a question

A little while ago I picked up a bag of besan flour and a later that day was paging through a cookbook and came across a recipe for a chickpea flour "pancake ". It is quite a famous dish and the name escapes me for the moment, I believe it is French but could be Italian or Spanish.

Anyway I was wondering if I could use the besan flour to make this snack?

[indiagirl]

Yes. Chick pea flour=besan=gram flour. It's true!

Other things you can make - green onion and/or bell pepper curry.

You make a tarka (see Stuffed Eggplant thread for details). Add the chopped green onions and/or bell peppers.

Mix the flour with some red chilli powder, salt, black pepper and a teaspoon of oil till it has a slightly mealy but still dry texture. (About a cup or less of flour for 3-4 bell peppers or 3-4 bunches of green onions).

Add the flour mixture to the cooking vegetables when they are sufficiently tender. Mix well. Cover until the flour is cooked - not raw tasting.

Eat with naans/chapatis.

[BettyK]

Thanks indiagirl.

[Steve Plotnicki]

How about Gram Crackers?

[Simon Majumdar]

The obvious question is why someone would be silly enough to buy a 3lb bag of gram flour in the first place......?

Anyway, I find it is also good for dusting fish or chicken before shallow frying

It makes great gram flour pancakes and, of course, you could always make some more bhaji if you can avaoid making lumpy batter

S

[A Scottish Chef]

The obvious question is why someone would be silly enough to buy a 3lb bag of gram flour in the first place......?

And the obvious answer is to enable one to make things with gram flour.

Nothing silly about it, Simon, I buy a 6 x 1Kg case of this regularly. TRS brand is king in my kitchen.

I sell it to customers in 1Kg bags and was once memorably asked, "Why is that called Gram? It look a lot heavier than that."

[Simon Majumdar]

The only reason I asked was that Joy bought the bag for an Indian dinner I was cooking with her in NY for some EG's and I stated a "small" bag. I arrived at her flat on saturday to see a bag that was the size of a small punchbag.........

That being said, the bhaji turned out very well, even though I do say so myself and went well with a raita which J expertly made

S

[A Scottish Chef]

That being said, the bhaji turned out very well, even though I do say so myself

I love your modesty

[Simon Majumdar]

That being said, the bhaji turned out very well, even though I do say so myself

I love your modesty

Nothing to do with me

Joy cut the onion, mixed the batter and dropped them into the oil. I merely took all the credit

S

[Flossie]

Simon or Scottish Chef - would you care to share your recipe(s) for onion bhajis, please? I have made them a few times but always been very disappointed with the way they turn out and end up buying them from M&S. Thanks!

[Simon Majumdar]

I make my batter using

Gram flour

Water

chilli powder

tumeric

salt

Mix to the consistency of a yorkshire pudding batter.

I do not put in the fridge although some do. I also don't over mix as I find this makes too thick a batter

I cut the onion in big sized chunk ( about 1/2 thick ) and fry in vegetable oil or sunflower oil. I then drain on kitchen towel and when ready to serve, refry in the hot oil

Sprinkle with salt and serve with a raita ( cucumber and mint ) and lime wedges

Other things are wonderful done this way too. I like cauliflower and enocci ( sp?) mushrooms

S

Edited February 19, 2003 by Simon Majumdar (log)

[Flossie]

Thanks, Simon. I'm off out at lunch-time to buy some more gram flour and try again.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Simon - Or how about the recipe for Gram flour pnacakes? Are they sweet or savoury? Us wheat sensitive people are always looking for wheat substitutes.

[Simon Majumdar]

Steve

They are savoury pancakes

The batter is made much thicker than for the bhaji and I add a pinch each of tumeric, ginger and cumin.

I make them on an oiled flat griddle pan, cooking on each side for a minute and a half

The are great with eggs and bacon or any smokey meat. I suspect they would be wonderful with pulled pork, but I have not tried that yet. They also work well as a sort of taco style wrap for vegetable currys or ghonto's

I don't think Gram flour lends itself to sweet pancakes, but someone may know different

S

[Monica Bhide]

I have a 3 lb bag that was used for onion bhajia batter. What else would it be good for?

1001 things to do with Gram flour -- I will share this with you, if you tell me what i need to do to get Simon to cook for me

Besan Ki Laddoos are great -- ifyou have a sweet tooth

Try this simple recipe.. delightful

-- Marinate some brocolli florets in a ginger garlic paste for about 20 minutes.

--- dust with gram flour and deep fry

-- Sprinkle with a mix of (amchoor, red chili, coriander powder and salt) and serve as a perfect appetizer with cold beer

enjoy!

[Steve Plotnicki]

Thank you. We sometimes make socca at home (made from gram flour) and we serve it with homemade pesto sauce and either shrimp or scallops. It's a surprisingly good combo. You can adapt that for an Indian palate by using your bhaja recipe but one needs a light sauce that is Indian in stylle to replace the pesto. I bet it would be very good.

[Toby]

Steve, how do you make your socca? I usually use Joanna Weir's recipe and it comes out good -- other recipes have been a disaster. I like it very hot out of the oven with fresh ricotta cheese; sometimes with a little stew of cooked chickpeas, swiss chard and a little tomato sauce.

[Adam Balic]

Thank you. We sometimes make socca at home (made from gram flour) and we serve it with homemade pesto sauce and either shrimp or scallops. It's a surprisingly good combo. You can adapt that for an Indian palate by using your bhaja recipe but one needs a light sauce that is Indian in stylle to replace the pesto. I bet it would be very good.

You can also get socca in Italy (it has several different names, depending on location (Liguria and Sicily). Real peasant food. In Chianti I had a similar preparation made from Chestnut flour, which is very heavy.

[Simon Majumdar]

Steve, how do you make your socca?  I usually use Joanna Weir's recipe and it comes out good -- other recipes have been a disaster.  I like it very hot out of the oven with fresh ricotta cheese; sometimes with a little stew of cooked chickpeas, swiss chard and a little tomato sauce.

It is interesting to see Socca with chickpea stew as the Bengali way is to serve the gram flour pancake with Gugni ( chickpeas cooked with chilli and a little tamarind )

S

[Toby]

Steve, how do you make your socca?  I usually use Joanna Weir's recipe and it comes out good -- other recipes have been a disaster.  I like it very hot out of the oven with fresh ricotta cheese; sometimes with a little stew of cooked chickpeas, swiss chard and a little tomato sauce.

It is interesting to see Socca with chickpea stew as the Bengali way is to serve the gram flour pancake with Gugni ( chickpeas cooked with chilli and a little tamarind )

S

Yes, I like using the same ingredient in different forms in a meal.

And then there's panisse (or panelle), which is made something like polenta and then left to set, cut into shapes and fried.

[Steve Plotnicki]

You mean farinata which is what I believe it is called in Italy. The food of Liguria is very much similar to the food of Nice. A few big distinctions I can put my finger on. Much greater reliance on meat in France. I can't think of the Italian equivelent of daube or a poulet Nicoise. But Liguria has things based on chestnut flour like trophie. Actually, I think you need to get to Genoa before you find trophie. If you flip through the Coleman Andrews or Fred Plotkin books on Riviera cuisine, it's remarkable how similar the cuisines are, dishes often just seperated by a name. There is even an Italian equivelent for Bouillabaise, the name of which is escaping me for the moment.