Gram flour ‘white’ sauce

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I find white sauce per se, somewhat incomprehensible, although it – and the rather posher sauce Béchamel - are an excellent basis for making other and eminently more interesting sauces. One of the main drawbacks of white sauce is that apart from the milk, which for vegans can cover a multitude of sins, it’s not necessarily very nutritious. While mushrooms in white sauce on toast or pasta, for example, are a quick and easy meal, if we substitute chickpea flour for corn/wheat flour, we not also get better nutrition but a more interesting result. At least to me, it’s more interesting. Give it a try and see what you think.

One of the drawbacks of using gram flour is its tendency to go lumpy. This recipe gets rid of any initial lumpiness, and if you stir the mixture constantly, over a low to moderate flame, you should end up with a perfectly smooth sauce. The end result is fairly thick – add more water, once it has thickened, if you want it runnier.

As with white sauce, there are as many variations as your imagination can conjure up, but I put in a few examples below, and as this recipe is vegan, I shall also suggest some ideas for vegetarians.

Makes 1 cupful – enough for 2 servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp gram flour

1 tbsp oil or melted ghee

1 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

good grind of black pepper

Instructions:

• Put the flour into a small saucepan and knock out the worst of the lumps with your spoon. Now pour in the oil or melted ghee and mix in the flour very thoroughly, effectively making a roux, while eliminating any remaining lumps.
• Now add a quarter cup of the water to the roux and blend into a smooth cream.
• Put the pan over a low heat and add some more water, blending everything carefully again. Raise the heat to moderate and keep stirring.
• When the sauce is showing signs of thickening, add the remaining water, the salt and the pepper. Bring the mixture to a slow boil, still stirring constantly.
•  Now reduce the heat to low again, and carry on stirring while it thickens. Taste to see if more salt is required. Don’t taste it before it starts getting thick: raw gram flour is not nice. Keep stirring until it has stopped thickening.

Notes

• This, as you will have noticed, is a very basic white sauce and you will want to add more ingredients. Most people seem to add milk – dairy or plant – but this really isn’t necessary. The gram flour adds a thickness and creaminess which is quite different from wheat flour. However, if it is somewhat lacking:

Variations: 

• The obvious place to start is the water. Substitute milk, if you like. Or boil the cup of water and put in a piece of onion, stuck with a clove or two and a bay leaf. Let it stand for half an hour or so to absorb the flavours and strain into the saucepan. Equally you can do this with milk. 

• A quicker way of achieving a similar result is to use 1/4 tsp onion powder or garlic granules plus the clove and bay leaf, which you’ll take out before serving. 

• Seasonings such as nutmeg or herbs, will enhance the basic sauce.
• Add mushroom stock powder, or a tsp of my equivalent.

• This sauce also makes a good basis for a pasta sauce, combined with some lentils/beans and/or vegetables. 

• Adding Indian spices, you can make a good creamy sauce to which you can add lentils, beans and/or vegetables.

• The sauce makes a good addition to creamy soups, either before or after blending. 

• Cheese sauce: include 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1/4 tsp garlic granules, 1 tsp Dijon mustard to the sauce with the first addition of water. Stir in 1 tsp tahini, too, for extra richness.  Or for vegetarians, add grated cheese before raising the heat. 

• 
  

 

You will find many more recipes elsewhere in this blog.

Chick pea and Aubergine Casserole

This is one of my favourite recipes. It’s easy to cook, absolutely yummy to eat and fit to offer guests. Aubergines, alas, are not always easy to come by, so if you like them anywhere near as much as I do, you want to make the most of them while you can. I’ve never bothered faffing around with salting and squeezing aubergines. I am told that if you do so, it makes them less like blotting paper around the olive oil, so I tried it once. It didn’t seem to make a lot of difference and although I did manage to get some of the pieces to fry brown and crisp, it didn’t seem to make the slightest difference to the end result. From all accounts it is simply unnecessary with modern varietals. So I decided that I was right. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup chick peas

1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

3 tbsp olive oil

1 aubergine

400 g/14 oz can tomatoes

salt

cracked black pepper

1 tsp oregano OR Annie's mixed herbs

Method:

• Soak and cook the chick peas in the usual manner.
• Chop the onion, dice the garlic. Fry them in the olive oil in a large saucepan until they’re soft.
• Cut the aubergine into chunky pieces, add to the pan and cook for a further 5 mins, turning the pieces frequently so that they all make some contact with both the pan and the oil.
• Now add the drained chick peas and the tomatoes. Season generously with the salt, pepper and oregano. When everything is heated through, turn the flame down low and cook for a further 20 minutes. Alternatively, use the pressure cooker (which is probably your largest pan, anyway) and bring to pressure for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice, wild rice or pasta. In the unlikely event that there’s any left over, it’s also delicious cold.

Variations:

• Use a can of cherry tomatoes, for special occasions
• Fresh tomatoes can also be substituted if cheap and readily available.
• Use white beans instead of the chick peas.

 

 

 

You will find many more recipeslike this here

Asparagus matar malai - asparagus white curry

 

Some time ago I adapted/created a mushroom white curry - mushroom matai malai - and have become addicted to it.  While having all the glorious flavours of curry, it is also quite different from most other Indian recipes that I've tried.  I have also found it a good meal to serve to guests, because it is one of those recipes that can be half made, set aside and then quickly completed when you're ready to eat.  However, I found it frustrating that the curry always came out brown, rather than white and because I can't find oyster mushroom locally, have just had to put up with it.  However, when the asparagus season started and I found myself wondering how to cook it, it occurred to me that it might go well in this white curry sauce.

 

Fresh asparagus is something of a luxury and combining it with Indian spices might sound like sacrilege: however, I urge you to try it.  I find it incredibly good eating and could happily enjoy it twice a week during the all-too-brief asparagus season.  Because it is a bit of a luxury, I make the cashew nut cream, that these white curries usually contain.

 

The onions, garlic and ginger are meant to be ground to a paste in a blender.  However, this means that you need to wash and dry the blender just before making the cashew cream.  I find this a bit of a bother and simply dice the onion very finely and use ginger and garlic pastes.  I don't think that the onions intrude.

Matar, by the way, means peas, so they are, strictly, essential. otherwise it will be simply asparagus malai. I use freeze-dried peas – essential voyagers’ provisions.  You could leave them out, I suppose, but they add interest to the appearance.

I have made this curry several times and adore it.  If you’re not fond of too much chilli, leave out the chillies and simply use the Kashmiri chilli powder.  It is so good that I could probably eat both servings at one sitting and other people also scrape their plate clean.  Because of this, it's worth adding chickpeas or white beans to make it more filling.  either that or have rice and roti!  Moreover, as it is spectacularly delicious, it's difficult not to eat the full two servings oneself and I've occasionally added white beans or  chickpeas to it.  However, if serving it for guests, the beans do detract slightly, so maybe just splurge on more asparagus.  In my opinion, this is not a curry to serve with a dal, or another curry, because I want to appreciate its uniqueness.

 

Unfortunately, it still doesn't end up white.  I shall just have to try it with cauliflower! 

Serves 2

Ingredients

 

one bunch of asparagus - about a dozen stalks

1/4 cup cashew nuts plus water for blending

1½ tbsp ghee or oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 small piece mace

1 or 2 green chillies, chopped

1 small onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp ginger paste

2 garlic cloves, finely diced or 1/2 tsp garlic paste

2 green cardamoms, seeds only

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp water

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup freeze-dried peas soaked in 1/4 cup hot water

1/4 tsp ground white pepper or black, if that’s all you have

1/4 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

Method:

• Trim the ends of the asparagus and cut it into pieces about 35mm/1.5 in long. 
• Put the cashews in a blender and grind them to a powder.  Than add 1/4 cup of water and blend until you have a smooth liquid.  
• Heat the ghee in a heavy-based saucepan and sizzle the cumin seeds and mace.
• Add the chilli and cook for a few moments. 
• Now add the onion, ginger, garlic, cardamom seeds, coriander, chilli powder and salt. Cook for a couple of minutes, lower the heat and add the water. (This is to stop the vegetables browning). Cook until the onions, etc are soft adding a drop more water if necessary. 
• Now raise the heat once more, add the asparagus and cook for a few minutes, ensuring that it is well-covered in the ghee/spice/aromatics mixture.
• Add the peas and any remaining water.  
• Cook for another four or five minutes and then stir in the cashew cream and cinnamon and bring everything to a very gentle boil. I usually find I need to add more water, so you could rinse out the blender with a couple of tbsp water and add that to the pot.  Now turn the heat right down until the mixture is barely simmering and add the pepper.
• Put a lid on and simmer until the  asparagus is cooked. Remove the lid so that the sauce can thicken to the consistency you want, then add the methi and garam masala. Cook very gently for another couple of minutes.
  Mushrooms also go very well in this sauce.

Serve with roti, brown basmati rice, or cumin rice if you prefer.  

Notes:

• Whole mace, unlike the ground variety, has a surprisingly intense flavour. If you’re not used to using it, be careful how much you add. I use a piece about the size of an almond.

Variations:

• If cashews are too expensive or unobtainable, you can use blanched peanuts instead.
• Use yoghurt instead of cashew nut cream. 
• If you want to end up with a smoother sauce, add the onion, ginger, garlic, and green chilli to a blender or food processor and blend to make a rough paste.  Add this paste to the pan, after you've fried the cumin and mace.
• For a more filling meal, add ½ cup chickpeas or white beans, soaked, cooked and drained. Or a can.  I have to admit that they do rather take away from the rather luxurious consistency of the sauce.
• This is quite a quick meal to make because you can just add everything in order, stirring to ensure that it’s all mixed, as you don’t want the fried vegetables and spices to turn brown. 
• Leave out the peas, if you don't have any.  Or substitute with some green beans.
• Try with cauliflower, cooking florets until just tender and then adding them once you've made the sauce.
• Courgettes could replace the asparagus, but I recommend only using baby ones: larger ones produce too much liquid.  
• I haven't tried this with broccoli, but it should work with young tender florets.  Broccoli can have a strong flavour which would overwhelm the sauce. 

 You will find more recipes like this here