The market · Grains and flours · Southern Europe, South Asia, The Middle East

Semolina

Coarse flour milled from hard durum wheat — golden, gritty and high in protein. The flour of dried pasta.

wheaty · nutty

What to do with it

Classics built on it
AndalusianPescaíto fritoSmall fish, squid and pieces of dogfish tossed in flour and fried fast in hot olive oil, eaten crisp with salt and lemon.No one here has made it yetAlsatianCarpe friteCarp cut into thin slices across the bone, coated in fine semolina and deep-fried, eaten with mayonnaise, lemon and chips.No one here has made it yetGreekBougatsaThin layers of filo wrapped round a warm semolina custard, baked, cut into squares and dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon.No one here has made it yet

Kinds

Coarse
For puddings, halva and dusting.
Semola rimacinata
Re-milled fine, for fresh pasta and Puglian bread.
Sooji / rava
South Asian semolina, for upma and halwa.

Goes with

egggheesugarmilk

Knowing it

Where to buy
Italian delis for rimacinata; South Asian grocers for sooji.
Worth knowing
Dust fresh pasta with semolina rather than flour — it isn't absorbed, so the pasta doesn't stick.

More grains and flours

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