The market · Grains and flours · South Asia

Gram flour

Besan: flour from split brown chickpeas, nutty and dense. It binds pakora and bhaji batter, makes dhokla and khandvi, and thickens kadhi.

nutty · earthy · beany

What to do with it

Classics built on it
PunjabiAmritsari fishWhite fish in a gram-flour batter sharp with ajwain, chilli and lemon, deep-fried crisp and eaten hot with chaat masala and chutney.No one here has made it yetGujaratiDhoklaA spongy, steamed savoury cake of gram flour or fermented rice and lentils, tempered with mustard seed, curry leaves and green chilli and soaked in a sweetened water.No one here has made it yetGujaratiUndhiyuA winter medley of flat beans, purple yam, sweet potato, baby aubergine and plantain, slow-cooked with fenugreek dumplings and a green masala of coconut and coriander.No one here has made it yetGujaratiKhandviGram flour cooked with yoghurt into a thick batter, spread paper-thin, rolled into soft spirals and tempered with mustard seed, sesame and coconut.No one here has made it yetGujaratiGujarati kadhiYoghurt thickened with a little gram flour, simmered thin with ginger and chilli, sweetened slightly and tempered with ghee, cumin, clove and curry leaves.No one here has made it yetRajasthaniGatte ki sabziDumplings of spiced gram flour, boiled and sliced, then simmered in a tangy yoghurt gravy.No one here has made it yetRajasthaniPyaaz kachoriA flaky, deep-fried pastry filled with onion cooked down with fennel, coriander seed and chilli, eaten with tamarind and mint chutneys.No one here has made it yetRajasthaniBikaneri bhujiaCrisp, thin threads of moth-bean and gram-flour dough, spiced with black pepper and ajwain and fried in oil.No one here has made it yetRajasthaniMirchi badaBig, mild green chillies stuffed with spiced potato, dipped in gram-flour batter and deep-fried.No one here has made it yet

Goes with

ajwainturmericyoghurtonion

Knowing it

Where to buy
Indian grocers. It's finer and more consistent than generic chickpea flour.
Worth knowing
Toast it in a dry pan until it smells nutty before using it in sweets or kadhi; raw gram flour tastes beany.

Kitchens that keep it in

Gujarat — western India, on the Arabian SeaGujaratiSweet, sour and gently hot: a largely vegetarian kitchen of gram flour, jaggery and buttermilk, of steamed and fried snacks, and a thali with a little of everything.9 classicsRajasthan — the Thar Desert and the Aravalli hills of north-western IndiaRajasthaniDesert cooking: millet, lentils and gram flour, ghee in generous measure, dried beans and berries that keep, fiery red meat from the Rajput courts and sweets made for festivals.9 classics

More grains and flours

Grains and floursAttanutty, wheaty3 classicsGrains and floursBasmati ricefragrant, nutty6 classicsGrains and floursBuckwheatearthy, nutty, toastyNot cooked here yetGrains and floursBulgurnutty2 classics