Is darker atta a sign of poor wheat
A common worry, answered: why whole stone-ground flour looks different.
Indore’s poha, sev and the besan behind them
Why the city’s breakfast depends on a good bag of chana flour.
Ask anyone in Indore what the city eats for breakfast and they will say poha with jalebi, and a handful of sev on top. The sev, those thin crisp strands of fried besan, is in almost everything here: poha, usal, bhutte ka kees, even the evening chaat at Sarafa.
Good sev needs good besan. The chana must be dry and clean, ground fine and even, and it helps if it is roasted lightly before milling. Raw besan can taste bitter and soaks up oil. Lightly roasted besan smells warm, fries crisp and stays crisp in a jar for weeks.
We roast desi chana dal from Ujjain mandi in a wide iron kadai, a few kilos at a time, stirring until it just changes colour. It cools on cloth, then goes to the second chakki, which we keep only for dals and millets. The besan is ground fine for sev and kadhi, and a little coarser for those who ask, for besan ladoo.
Most of our besan goes to Indore homes, but a few namkeen makers near Rajwada buy from us too. If you make sev at home, try a 1 kg bag and keep it in a dry jar.
