[Sca-cooks] Translation issue

[James Prescott]

At 22:57 -0400 2003-04-07, Patrick Levesque wrote:
> Greetings to the list!
>
> This is a very basic question: I'm wondering about the exact meaning of
> 'grams'. (The french-english dictionnaries I have here are not of much
> help, unfortunately, being stuck on the metrical measurement).
>
> Do they only refer to pulses and legumes in general, or does the term
> indicate a narrower selection therein? Webster's definition is 'any of
> several beans' which quite frankly doesn't lead one very far...
>
> It seems safe to assume that chickpeas would be included, but I want to
> verify this before I adapt a new recipe.


If you are referring to Indian cuisine, then 'gram' generally
refers only to the chick pea and very close relatives, such as
'channa' which is like a small chick pea with its skin removed,
and with the pea split.  'Gram' flour is made from 'channa'.


Nevertheless, for our greater confusion, 'gram' is occasionally
used to refer to some other legumes, such as moong beans and
horse gram.


Thorvald