Saturday 4 May 2013

101 uses for besan (chickpea or gram) flour

Well maybe not that many, but a couple of uses ...

I have used besan flour before to make French toast and omelette, but lately I have been experimenting with it in a few new recipes. It has a beautiful nutty flavour and is rich in protein. 

These dosas from Vegan Magic are really delicious. 



I was overjoyed when Sylvia liked these! They can be eaten as an accompaniment to a meal or even used as a wrap. 

I leave out the carrot because Sylvia prefers them plain. I also substituted plain flour for the rice flour once, and they turned out fine. 

These fritters from The Kind Cook were also a huge success with Sylvia. 



They are great with the corn, mint and zucchini in the original recipe, but work with most vegetables. Here I used grated carrot, corn, spinach and parsley. 

I am always excited to find such simple, tasty and healthy recipes on blogs. I don't think I'd be able to find and try as many new recipes such as these without my trusty iphone, which I can even manage to use with a baby balancing on my lap and a three year old giving me orders!

I'd love to hear how you use besan flour so I can add it to my list!

8 comments:

  1. I love besan flour and use it quite a bit - I would highly recommend chickpea crackers and chickpea pizza bases (which I have bloged) and also socca (which I hope to blog sometime).

    I will have to check out the dosa - they look so yummy - does your sylvia eat it with all the spices - I have a feeling my sylvia would be easier to convince to eat it with carrot than spices

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  2. Thanks, will definitely have to try those! My Sylvia eats them with the spices but is particular about textures, so no carrot. She is usually fine with spices as long as they're not hot

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  3. Excellent ideas - thanks Kate! I have used it in pancakes (just substitute directly for regular pancakes) and really enjoyed those, finding them slightly chewier and denser, perfect for savoury fillings.

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    1. Thanks Kari will have to try it in pancakes!

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  4. I will have to check out those recipes because we adore chickpea flour. Chila is our preferred recipe but socca is good, crustless vegan quiche, seitan, and even pakoras. :)

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    1. Thanks, great ideas! On my way to check out your blog :)

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  5. Those fritters look amazing - I could go for some of those with some sweet chilli sauce. Yum!

    There's a restaurant I go to that makes fantastic chick pea flour crepes with asparagus filling, but every time I've tried to make them at home they go awry! Maybe another try is order!

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    1. I just recently made crepes from Vegenomicon with chickpea flour (see latest post) and they worked out perfectly! You should try them :)

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