Besan recipes: breakfast, lunch, snacks and sweets with gram flour

Three habits run through the Indian recipes below. First, toast: halwa, barfi and laddu start by roasting besan in ghee until it darkens and smells nutty, while the porridge and upma dry-toast the flour in the pan first, the upma's ghee arriving with the tempering. Second, no lumps: pour or whisk the flour into liquid a little at a time, the way the upma rains it into boiling water. Third, no gluten: besan has no gluten to hold a dough together, so the roti dough is kneaded with warm water and ghee and rolled between parchment sheets, the gatte dough comes together with ghee and curd and is rolled into logs, and the fafda dough is kneaded with oil and pressed out with the palm. Read the gram flour nutrition page for what the flour carries per 100 g.

Besan chilla: savoury gram flour pancakes with onion, tomato, green chilli and ajwain, spread thin and cooked in groundnut oil. Eight chillas in 45 minutes, two to a serving at 242 kcal.

Besan upma: flour toasted dry, then cooked fluffy in a ghee, mustard and curry-leaf tempering. Four bowls in 19 minutes, 193 kcal a bowl.

Besan porridge: flour dry-roasted, finished with ghee, whisked smooth with water and sweetened with jaggery. Ready in about 12 minutes, two bowls at 237 kcal each.

Besan roti: a gram flour flatbread kneaded with ghee, ajwain and warm water, rolled thin on parchment. Four rotis in 35 minutes, 175 kcal a roti.

Missi roti: besan and whole wheat atta flatbread with ajwain and onion, cooked soft on a hot tawa. Eight rotis in 40 minutes, two to a serving at 256 kcal.

Besan gatte ki sabji: gram flour dumplings kneaded with ghee, ajwain and turmeric, boiled whole, sliced and simmered in a curd gravy. Four bowls in 50 minutes, 189 kcal a bowl.

Besan ki sabji (zunka): flour cooked in a mustard and cumin tempering with onion and turmeric into a soft, dry sabji. Four portions in 25 minutes, 192 kcal a portion.

Kadhi pakora: crisp onion pakoras soaked in a thick, tangy besan and curd kadhi. Ready in 40 minutes, 374 kcal a bowl.

Gujarati kadhi: a thin, sweet-tangy kadhi simmered with jaggery and a curry-leaf tempering, no pakoras and no onions. Ready in 30 minutes, 76 kcal a bowl.

Sindhi kadhi: roasted besan and tamarind kadhi with cluster beans and potato, no curd at all. Ready in 40 minutes, 146 kcal a bowl.

Punjabi kadhi: thick, tangy besan and curd kadhi with amchur and pan-fried onion pakoras. Ready in 40 minutes, 294 kcal a bowl.

Sev tamatar: crisp homemade besan sev over a tangy tomato-onion gravy, a stovetop Gujarati curry. Ready in 40 minutes, 315 kcal a bowl.

Besan dhokla: soft, spongy steamed dhokla lifted with fruit salt, finished with a mustard, sesame and curry-leaf tempering. Twelve pieces in 40 minutes, two to a serving at 165 kcal.

Khandvi: thin, silky cooked batter spread on plates, cut into strips and rolled while warm, with a mustard-sesame tempering. Sixteen rolls, four to a serving at 178 kcal.

Fafda: crisp pressed besan strips fried to a snap, served with green chutney. Twenty-four strips in 40 minutes, four to a serving at 287 kcal.

Besan ke laddu: coarse besan roasted slowly in ghee until nutty, cooled and bound with jaggery or sugar, cardamom and nuts. Twelve laddus in about an hour, plus setting time, 234 kcal a laddu.

Besan barfi: flour slow-roasted in ghee, bound with jaggery syrup and pressed into a tray. Sixteen squares in 28 minutes plus cooling, 106 kcal a square.

Besan ka halwa: flour slow-roasted in ghee until deep golden, finished with hot water and jaggery into a glossy, pudding-soft sweet. Six small bowls in 35 minutes, 346 kcal a bowl.

Mysore pak: gram flour and sugar cooked to a froth with ghee added in three lots, poured into a tray and cut warm. Twelve pieces in 32 minutes, 126 kcal a piece.

Mohanthal: flour rubbed with ghee, sieved into crumbs and roasted, then bound with one-string sugar syrup and set in a tray. Twelve pieces in 40 minutes plus setting, 155 kcal a piece.

Serving sizes differ, but the range runs from 76 kcal for a bowl of Gujarati kadhi to 374 kcal for kadhi pakora. The roti at 175 kcal, the gatte at 189 kcal, the sabji at 192 kcal and the upma at 193 kcal a serving sit in the middle. The highest are the fried and sweet ones: kadhi pakora at 374 kcal, halwa at 346 kcal, sev tamatar at 315 kcal and punjabi kadhi at 294 kcal a serving, where frying oil, ghee, sugar and jaggery sit on top of the flour's own 387 kcal per 100 g. If you are managing weight or diabetes, the besan for weight loss and besan for diabetes pages go through the numbers, and your doctor or dietitian can say what fits you, and the whole family sits on the besan hub.

What recipes use gram flour?

Everything on this page: chilla, upma and porridge for breakfast, roti, missi roti, gatte, zunka, four kadhis and sev tamatar for lunch, dhokla, khandvi and fafda for snacks, and laddu, barfi, halwa, mysore pak and mohanthal for sweets. Each entry links to the full step-by-step recipe with its serving numbers.

Is besan chilla healthy?

It depends on the rest of your day, so here are the numbers: two chillas, one serving, come to 242 kcal with the recipe's oil, from a batter of besan, onion, tomato and ajwain, a little above the 237 kcal porridge bowl and well above the 193 kcal upma bowl. Spread thin and cooked in a little oil, the chilla keeps its added fat low.

Can we eat besan in fast?

It depends on the fast your family follows, because fasting rules on pulses are not the same everywhere. Where besan is allowed, check each recipe's ingredient list against what your fast permits; the chilla and zunka both use onion, which some fasts leave out. On medicines, check fasting changes with your doctor first.

What is gram flour?

Gram flour is besan under its other name: flour milled from Bengal gram, the chickpea, so every recipe on this page is a gram flour recipe. The FSSAI standard defines besan as dehusked Bengal gram ground to flour, with no added colouring matter.