Roasted Gram & Daria

Daria is split Bengal gram that has been roasted until dry, pale and crisp. In Tamil it is pottukadalai, in Telugu putnalu pappu, in Kannada hurigadale, and in Gujarati homes simply daria. Because it is already cooked, it can be eaten as it is, ground to a powder or stirred into a dish at the last minute, which makes it the most convenient pulse in our dals and pulses department.

A spoonful ground with fresh coconut, green chilli and salt is what gives South Indian coconut chutney its body, so it does not split or turn watery beside idli and dosa. Ground finely with sugar and ghee it becomes maa laddoo, or pottukadalai urundai. It goes into Gujarati chivda with poha and peanuts, into chikki with jaggery, and into kebab mixtures as a binder. Salted and unsalted daria, and roasted chana with the skin still on, are also eaten straight from the jar as a tea-time snack.

Roasted gram absorbs damp from the air and loses its snap, so decant it into an airtight jar once opened. If it softens, a few minutes in a dry pan over a low heat brings back the crunch. For raw pulses that you cook yourself, see dals and beans and chickpeas, and for another pulse that arrives ready prepared, the sun-dried wadi.