Farali Flour

Farali, or farari, food is eaten on Hindu fasting days, when many families avoid wheat, rice and ordinary pulses. Farali flour is milled from ingredients that are allowed, such as moraiyo, the barnyard millet also known as samo or sama ke chawal, along with rajgira, singhara or kuttu, depending on the mix. Moraiyo flour is used for farali dhokla, handvo, thepla and khichdi style dishes.

Ready farari flour blends make fasting cooking simpler: add boiled potato, green chilli and rock salt and knead into puris, parathas or pakoras. Customs vary from family to family, so check the ingredients against your own fast. Annam is one of the names that packs moraiyo flour.

Farali doughs do not bind like wheat, so mash in boiled potato or a little yoghurt and knead with warm water. Roll puris between plastic sheets and fry in hot groundnut oil or ghee. For more grain free options, see gluten free flour and millet flour, grouped under millet and gluten free flour.