Besan flour or chickpea flour

Does anyone use this?
I remember years ago making a pancake type thing with it and discovered a packet I bought a while back re arranging my pantry.

What uses does it have? I think I bought it to coat meat/chicken to thicken dishes in place of wheat flour - not quite sure why , might have been a low carb health kick idea???

Hit me with ideas

Vanessa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2018 12:12PM by Vanessa45.

I've bought it before to make Onion Bhaji. Nice with drinks on the weekend.

I use it loads. its not low-carb. Good with savoury cooking, but I would not replace it with wheat flour in baking.

Apart from Bhaji I haven't used chick pea flour much, but there is a nice French pancake thing called Socca which could be handy as a gluten free option. Not low carb.

[cooking.nytimes.com]

I use it to make Pakora, an I*dian vegetable 'fritter'; think bhaji on steroids. There are a gazillion online versions of how to make them, including lots of YouTube videos. Some make a batter out of the flour and spices then add the vegetables but I prefer to use the method shown here where the flour is added to the vegetables: [www.harighotra.co.uk] This way the batter is not thinned by the vegetables giving up their water. They're a great way to use up small amounts of vegetables - just be sure to cut them into small pieces, either diced or matchsticks, to ensure they're thoroughly cooked in the frying process.
Lynne2

I've used it to make socca once. But my bag that had been in the pantry got infested with something so I ended up chucking it out.

Onion and Cauliflower Bhaji are delicious.

Interesting 2 of you picked up on Low Carb. I just did a bit of research and...

One cup of chickpea flour contains 356 calories, 21 grams of protein, 6 grams of total fat and 53 grams of total carbohydrates, according to the USDA Nutrient Database. It has fewer calories and carbs than either whole-wheat or all-purpose white flour, yet it's a better source of protein. Chickpea flour has double the amount of protein than whole-wheat flour and six times more than all-purpose flour. It's an excellent source of folate, containing seven times more folate than whole-wheat flour. It even has more folate than enriched all-purpose flour. It also provides vitamin B-6, iron, magnesium and potassium.

So not a low carb food as such but lets just say lower carb than regular flour and higher in protein.

Clearly with these delicious ideas choosing it for some low carb diet approach isnt going to work ;-)

The Bhaji and Pakora look delicious especially with a cold beer!

Don't forget home-made felafel, too. It's easy to make and it freezes well if you roll the mixture into balls. You can take as many out of the freezer as you need. They make a quick lunch served in a pita pocket with whatever salady type things you like. Word of warning, don't cook the chickpeas before grinding them up, or the mixture won't hold together to make either balls or patties. Just soak them overnight or for a few hours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2018 12:14AM by Lorna.

I've never used besan to make felafel, do you have a recipe?

I have recipes for felafel but they are not made with besan. Besan is very finely ground chickpeas, whereas the grinding I am refering to is somewhat 'rougher', the particles are still discernible: grainy not puréed. So, same product, different treatment. Here is one basic recipe

1 cup washed chickpeas
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons coriander pesto
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
oil for frying

Soak chickpeas overnight. Drain.  Grind in a blender or food processor until fine.
Add spices and flour. If mixture is too dry, add a few drops of olive oil and/or water.
Make small balls about 3 cm in diameter. Place on waxed paper or a greased baking sheet.
Heat the oil and deep fry a few balls at a time for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.Drain on a paper towel.  Keep balls warm.
To serve: Stuff 6 balls in fresh pita bread together with humus, tahini, fresh vegetable salad and hot pepper sauce.  Eat warm.

It's a pantry staple for me because socca (chickpea pancakes) are an easy peasy meal basis. You can flavour the batter if you want. You can also use it like a pizza base and I like cooking the batter in a waffle iron to make socca waffles. I want to try making Panisse which are chickpea chips (like polenta chips).

Like Griz, I recently had a bag of besan sitting in my pantry for a bit long and some insects hatched from it so I threw it out.

You can put it in your freezer. That's where I keep my chickpea flour. Any flour I don't use very often goes in the freezer (coconut flour, almond flour, chickpea flour, semolina flour...). It stays ready to use - just take out the amount you need and you're ready to go......