Gram flour, also known as besan or Chickpea flour, originated in South Asia. However, its numerous health benefits and uses in cooking made it popular all around the world. Find out gram flour benefits, uses and recipe for your health and beauty in this post!
What is gram flour?
Even though gram flour may still be considered to be exotic in some parts of the globe, it’s actually a very straightforward product.
Gram flour, or besan flour, is made from chickpeas, or Bengal gram. It’s gluten free and high in protein, making it a great substitute for other types of flour.
Gram Flour Benefits
The biggest reason why gram flour got its popularity is the many benefits it has for your health and beauty. Here are the most important ones:
- Because gram flour contains less carbs and more fiber and protein than wheat flour, it makes a great substitution for regular flour if you’re trying to lose weight. Using gram flour for weight loss has proven to be very effective.
- Gram flour contains linoleic and oleic acids, the well-known fatty acids that benefit every part of our bodies.
- Gram flour can helps to lower the levels of bad cholesterol, promoting heart health and reducing the chances of heart attacks.
- Diabetes patients are often advised to used gram flour to help manage the level of sugar in their blood.
- Chickpeas are rich in vitamin B6, which is essential for preventing allergies, fighting off diseases, and boosting your immune system.
- When used externally as a paste, gram flour for skin can help with a number of skin conditions by giving you an even, glowing complexion, effectively treating acne, and acting as an advanced exfoliator.
- Gram flour can also be used for treating a variety of hair problems, including oily hair, hair loss, dry and dull hair, and dandruff.
Gram Flour uses in cooking
So how exactly can you add more gram flour to your meals to enjoy all of its health benefits? You can use it almost the same way you use regular wheat flour. Here is just a short list of the things you can do with gram flour:
- Bread
- Pancakes
- Wraps
- Cookies and cakes
- Pizza
- Burgers
- Curry
Gram flour is also widely used in vegetarian recipes as a substitution of dairy-based products – for example, a huge hit in the vegetarian community is “melted cheese” made with gram flour. You can also substitute parts of wheat flour for gram flour in your usual recipes.
Gram Flour Recipes
If you’re having trouble finding gram flour in your local stores or markets, you can easily make some of your own. To make your own gram flour, you will only need dried chickpeas, a food processor, and a coffee grinder. Follow these steps/recipe to make gram flour at home:
- You can slightly roast the chickpeas for a deeper flavour prior to grinding.
- Put chickpeas in small batches into the food processor container and blitz at high speed for 2-3 minutes or until the chickpea powder is completely homogenous.
- Sift the powder to separate the flour from the larger bits.
- Using a coffee grinder, blitz the larger bits of chickpeas, 1-2 tablespoons at a time, and add them to the chickpea flour.
- Sift the gram flour again and store in a cool and dry place in a container with a tight lid.
Tell us what you think about gram flour benefits, uses and recipes in the comment section below, thanks.
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See also: Ogbono Soup: Health Benefits & Recipes
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