Simplicity Coimbatore , The Gram flour in our food
I was asked this question a few days ago ;”what is mixture made of ?” ‘Mixture‘ for those of you don’t know is a delicious savoury ,dry concoction of fried bits which are then ‘mixed’ together. It is a much loved traditional South Indian snack. I was asked this question after the person had a substantial helping of this favourite ‘ lock down’ tea time indulgence . Not that we are celebrating being in lock down , heavens no ! But when else does anyone really have the time these days to sit and enjoy a bowl of mixture at 4 pm ,on a week day ?
Anyway to answer the question, what mixture is made of , I began to talk about the gram flour. Any excuse to get me started on food trivia right ? Later on that very same day by a quirk of coincidence I was talking about this flour to a friend who lives abroad and he was asking me the ‘English’ name for it because he wasn’t familiar with the name gram flour.
As we were talking he looked it up on his laptop and said “Oh I know chick pea Flour”. I tried telling him that the gram flour we use is not the white chick pea flour or flour made from kabuli channa .It is actually a split chick pea which we refer to as the channa dal or Bengal gram. This conversation kept going back and forth until I had like an assembly line laid out. The whole Bengal gram with the brown skin, the split channa dhal (Bengal gram) and the flour.
It makes me wonder if our children are aware of the connect between Bengal gram and the gram flour…how could they because we rarely have these kinds of conversations. This reminds me of a funny incident the other day. Our kitchen helper was rolling out roti while I was making the kadhi , yes with gram flour .Anyway she called out to one of the children at home and asked if he wanted to learn how to roll out a roti to a perfect circle. The reply came quickly , “not now I have class” (online). I could not contain my laughter when she retorted (kindly) ,”this is also a class “ .
I would actually go one step further and call (cooking) it a necessary life skill !
The reason I was asked about the mixture was because while it helped to satisfy hunger pangs it did not give a feeling of discomfort, despite being deep fried. A well made mixture which uses a good quality oil in the right quantities can be the ,perfect vegan snack, occasionally. Loaded with peanuts, cashew nuts,curry leaves and spices it really is a delicious way to cook the gram flour.
The kadalai maavu or besan is used so often in so many of our dishes that we hardly take notice of its existence. From onion pakoda, molaggai bajji , bonda, chilla and mixture, the gram flour is what is most often used to rustle up a quick snack. These are all perfect rainy day tea time treats.
While we were in the process of making bottle gourd cutlets the next day ,the gram flour conversation is what popped into my head straight away. Usually the bottle gourd rings are stuffed with any mix of vegetables or meat and grilled on a hot tava.
Sometimes we use a vegetable cutlet filling ,especially when we have scant leftovers of each vegetable. So when there are just a couple of carrots ,a handful of beans and maybe a solitary potato or two, the cutlet is our go to option. Since we also had a fresh podalangai (bottle gourd) ,it was perfect for a healthier side dish. To bind the cutlet mixture we usually use fresh breadcrumbs or a little leftover rice .
This time we decided to try our hand at making the cutlets using roasted gram flour as a binding agent. Raw gram flour can tend to have a bitter aftertaste. We do use the powder of fried Bengal gram (pottukadalai maavu) for our minced meat patties but not gram flour. Anyway we gave it a go and it turned out great.
This made me really happy because I love coming up with non-wheat options for my gluten intolerant friends and family. To coat the cutlets, instead of using dry breadcrumbs, we made a gram flour slurry using gram flour , rice flour , salt , red chilli powder, cumin powder and enough water to make it into a dipping consistency.
The slurry coated the bottle gourd cutlets beautifully and pan fried like a dream. All it took was a little bit of the cold pressed oil on our well seasoned cast iron skillet and the stuffed cutlets were ready in a jiffy.There are so many benefits to the gram flour that we are sadly unaware of. It’s great that we are anyway including it in our diet but it would be even better if it were added with a purpose.
There is so much information online which talks about the health benefits of gram flour. I urge you to read a few or at least one. No arguments as always about the wisdom of our ancestors and the recipes they put together.
That bottle of gram flour which is stored in my freezer (to prevent it from going rancid) does add joy to my kitchen and table in more ways than one ! Why else would eyes light up at the sight of crisp bhindi kurkure or crunchy eggplant fritters seasoned with a sprinkling of chaat masala ? It’s all that gram flour magic !
No comments yet.