[Sca-cooks] Re: gram flour

[Ruth Tannahill]

Adamantius wrote:
> Use the eye you saved to find your way to the nearest Indian grocery,
> where that eye will see bags of gram dal flour, which is apparently
> made from hulled, split mung beans.

"Gram flour" refers to any bean flour. "Besan" is chickpea. This is the one 
that goes into "graham flour" I believe (and maybe into graham crackers?). 
"Ural dal" flour is made from white mung beans, and is probably the one you 
want. Be warned, though. It has amazing thickening powers and can really 
soak up the liquid.

When shopping at an Indian grocery, I usually go first to the whole bean 
aisle, and see what they are calling the bean whose flour I want to use, 
then go to the flour section and find the appropriate flour. Regional 
differences in Indian spellings and translation into your local English 
dialect sometimes mean that the same product will have a different label 
than what you expect. Master A lives in New York. I live about 70 miles away 
in New Jersey. But I'm willing to bet things are labeled differently. I've 
made a handy-dandy reference chart for myself with some of the more common 
Indian names for spices, beans, and vegetables. A good Indian cookbook is a 
good starting place to find the names, but be prepared for some variation. 
The staff at the grocery may or may not be able to help.

Berelinde
lover of Indian food

PS--I got the ultimate compliment from one of my coworkers from Gujarat: my 
samosas were better than her mothers (even if my lemon pickle fell short of 
her mom's).