Here we are in February and it’s close to that time of year again when attention turns to sweet Valentine’s Day delights. While pretty as a picture in the shops, nothing beats a little homemade treat for you, your family or to give to friends, finger marks and all. Sweet tastes in Ayurveda conjure feelings of love, happiness and are known to increase Kapha in your constitution, as well as balance Vata and Pitta. These feelings of love go hand in hand with the sweet taste, as recognised in the way we spoil ourselves and loved ones with something sugary. Taking the time to create your own treats really sends a message to those you care for - unless they gobble them up too quickly to notice (a very true possibility so be prepared and try to take it as a compliment… it's the thought that counts anyway!).
Some of my favourite recipes to do the job are unsurprisingly cookies - or should I say biscuits - no worrying about whether they’ll rise, flop or slice well. You can also make the batter in advance and cook later. And you can swap toppings and flavourings as you fancy without worrying about messing up the basic recipe too much. My other favourites are ladoos and barfis - the Indian answer to a sweet nibble. Bite size (or two bites if like me, you want to savour) - portable, easy to distribute and a relatively long shelf life for a small product. They are intensely nourishing and satisfying though be careful as they are also very moreish!
So this leads to one of my favourite flours to use for cookies, ladoos and barfis - chickpea flour! Being a legume/pulse it’s protein as well as carbohydrate rich, naturally gluten-free and affordable. Even cheaper and more widely available is a variety of chickpea flour made from Bengal gram - a staple cuisine of the Indian continent and found labelled ‘gram’ or ‘besan’ in most big supermarkets and Asian shops. I use the terms chickpea flour and gram interchangeably on the website and in general chit chat as there is no major difference but I explain a little more below. You can’t substitute chickpea flour/gram like for like with wheat in recipes that rise but it works well in dense products - especially because it’s a natural binder and thickener (good to know as an addition to pancakes, soups and stews). And if you can’t get hold of it you can make your own using a high powered blender which can blitz dried (uncooked) chickpeas into flour. Once ground - it’s best to store this type of flour in an airtight container in the fridge or somewhere cool so that the natural oils present don’t turn rancid.
WHERE CAN I FIND THEM IN SHOPS?
You can now find both varieties of flour in some of the big supermarkets, speciality food shops and your local Indian grocery store and chickpea flour at Waitrose and Planet Organic. Gram flour can be found on Amazon and at Sainsburys.
WHAT IS CHICKPEA FLOUR?
Chickpea flour is created when white chickpeas are ground down to a fine powder. The texture is coarse, fluffy and has an overall lighter consistency. Used in a recipe, chickpea flour requires more water to be able to bind the components together.
The taste of chickpea flour is a little stronger than its gram flour counterpart and so takes longer to reduce the strong taste - some say it has a grass-like taste to it when raw - if you try it (I wouldn't recommend it!).
WHAT IS GRAM FLOUR (AKA BESAN)?
Gram flour is created when chana dal AKA bengal gram or split brown chickpeas are ground into a fine powder (sometimes yellow lentils are thrown in the mix too). Gram flour is much more compact, finer and smoother than its relative, chickpea flour. Due to its much lighter consistency it needs much less water when making a batter or something that requires a hold to it.
WHY AND WHEN SHOULD I PRE COOK IT?
It is important to make sure the chickpea flour or gram is always well cooked before eating (both to get rid of the astringent aftertaste and to stop it giving you tummy ache - remember all legumes/pulses need to be well cooked!) and this also removes any bitter taste and gives you a nuttier flavour.
Since recipes such as chickpea/gram cookies, barfis and ladoos are recipes dense with the flour, unlike cakes and dokhla which have a longer cooking time and contain more liquid (helping to steam cook the flour), or when used as part of a batter for fritters etc - it is crucial that your chickpea flour or gram is cooked well first.
When you toast or roast your flour before adding it to recipes, it will create a golden and a much richer nuttier flavour. It will enhance the flavour or your baked goods and is especially nice for those who can’t eat nuts!
There are two methods for toasting - you can use the oven (which helps when doing it in bulk quantity), in a heavy bottomed pan or wok. Be very vigilant about not burning your flour as this will ruin the taste and health properties of your flour - beware of trying to multitask! There is also a method for roasting your flour in ghee which I learnt from my Indian friends. This is used to prepare traditional besan barfi (gram flour fudge) rather than to pre-cook the flour for storage - find the roasting method within this recipe.
