ingredient information
Beans Black Gram Flour
There is an inexhaustible variety of peas, beans and lentils, consumed in South Asia. The three most widely eaten pulses are chickpeas, pigeon peas and urd beans. Chickpeas, also known as Bengal gram or chana dal, are South Asiaâ€™s most widely consumed pulse. India produces more pulses than any other country and most of them are eaten in various dal dishes. Chickpeas are also used to produce gram flour, or basan flour. Pigeon peas, also known as adhaki, are the second most commonly used bean in dal after chickpeas. It is grown all over India. Urd, or black gram, is a bean which has ceremonial significance for Hindus. They come in a range of colours including black, as the name suggest, and green. They are finely ground and used to make poppadoms and dosa. The young, fresh pods can also be eaten as a vegetable. A close relative of urd is the mung bean. These legumes are mostly used to produce a golden or green gram. The beans can also be eaten as dried split peas, or eaten fresh and sprouted. Cowpeas, or black-eyed beans, are mainly eaten in dal in South Asia.