There are as many different types of flours as many grains we can find. In my house we were only using wheat flour for cakes,pancakes, basically for any type of pastry, rye flour , when my mom was making bread and spelt flour. Those three were the basic one in my house. I also was using oats flour when I started eating more healthier. Few years back when Poland was going through big eating habits changes I heard about coconut flour, rice flour, lentils flour, almond flour etc. Every one was crazy about them and everyone, literally everyone was going on healthy diet!! It was something completely new for me. We never used them in our house, so I was excited about trying them in well known dishes. Although they are quite expensive to buy, so it’s better to make them at home.
About chickpeas flour, I heard from my mom’s friend who has celiac disease. When I got to know about this condition I was surprised that wheat flour and food which contains gluten can cause such a big issues. Again this was something new for me because, no one in my family suffer from this illness. I had my episode with gluten free food. Although that time I never made any flour at home except oats flour.
So here I am, few years later in India, where you can find many different types of flours and many ideas of how to use them, not only in kitchen. And besan – chickpeas flour is one of the most popular one. I decided to make this flour at home. Why have I decided to make it at home, when I can easily go to miller and buy it from him? Because I wanted to try myself and check how it will turn out. It turned out to be very easy to make! 🙂
Here I will describe how to do it, buy trust me it is a piece of cake!
You will need:
- 200 grams of dried chickpeas
- pan
- food processor or very good blender
- grinder
- sieve
- bow bowl
- plate
- small jar
- First roasted chickpeas on a pan. Do not overdo because bean will burn and the flour will lose it’s natural taste. Keep them for about 3 minutes, keep shaking pan from time to time so all the bean are roasted evenly. More you roast them more nutty flavor you get.
- Place chickpeas on plate and give it 10 minutes to cool down. After 10 minutes put chickpeas into blender/ food processor and blend it until you get powder. This will take about 6 minutes. I divided chickpeas into 3 portions and blend each separately.
- When everything is blended place sieve on big bowl and sift flour. If there are any chickpeas bits left place them in a coffee grinder and ground them. Sift again to remove any chickpeas bits which did not process.
- Now gently shift flour into a jar. It can be any jar, just be sure it is dry. Keep in cool and dry place.
That’s it! Easy right? Now you can enjoy your chickpeas f
lour and try it in different recipes. here you can find recipe for apple pancakes with chickpeas flour.
Enjoy!
What is in chickpeas flour and how we can use it ?
Besan or gram flour is a flour made from chickpeas. It is a basic ingredient in the cuisine of India, Bangladesh, Burmese, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. When mixed with an equal proportion of water, it can be used as an egg replacement in vegan cooking. It doesn’t contain gluten, which makes it perfect for people with gluten intolerance. It is high in fiber, protein, potassium and magnesium. Gram flour I would recommend for pancakes, but mix it with almond flour and oats flour, I personally do not like plain chickpeas flour taste, so I’m always mixing it with other types of flours. You can use it to make simple chapatti- Indian bread, and of course for any Indian dish! Also chickpeas flour has been used by Indian women in beauty aid!
Cosmetic tips for using chickpeas flour you can find here.
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