a principal product of the chickpea. Because the chickpea is known in S. India as Bengal gram, besan flour is also known as gram flour or Bengal gram flour. Whichever name is used, it is a basic ingredient in Indian cookery. It is made by milling very finely what is called channa (or channa dal), the small Indian chickpea, husked and split. Its protein content is very high, its texture fine, and its colour pale yellow.
Besan flour mixed with water provides batter coatings for fritters such as pakora. It is used for various savoury noodles, and plays a part in certain sweetmeats. Among these are bundia (or boondi, bonde), tiny confections made from a sweetened batter incorporating besan flour (or other pulse meal) dribbled through a perforated ladle into hot oil. The mixture forms pea-sized balls which are coated in syrup.
Besan flour is also an ingredient of dumplings and for thickening and emulsifying curries. Stobart (1980) points out that cooks in western countries, where besan flour is virtually unknown, will find it a highly effective thickener.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Stobart, Tom (1980), The Cook's Encyclopaedia, London: B. T. Batsford. Also repr 1999, London: Grub Street.
