Cereals & pulses
By Chef Saikat Das
IIHM, Delhi
CEREALS
Seeds of cultivated grass used in means of cooking or meals is called
cereals.
Examples: wheat, Maize, rice, millets- pearl millet, barnyard millet,
quinoa, buckwheat etc.
WHEAT GRAIN
•Botanical name - Triticum
•It is composed of three parts namely- bran, endosperm and germ.
•Wheat may be classified as hard, medium and soft wheat.
Milling process of wheat
•Grading of wheat : When the wheat comes from factory they are
identified and graded as hard ,soft or medium .
•Cleaning: It involves removal of impurities and is done as under
•Aspirators: Air is blown which will air lift the husk and dust.
•Disc separator: This will remove Barley and other unwanted seeds from
wheat.
•Magnetic separator: This will lift any iron particles in the wheat.
•Washer stoner: In this high speed rotors circulate wheat and water,
which will remove any stones which are present.
Milling process of wheat
•Conditioning After passing the water ,the wheat is made to dry under the
controlled condition ideally 16 to 17% moisture is ideal for milling. During
condition both the bran and the germ becomes hard which will later on
peel off in large particles rather than small fragments.
•Blending The mixing of various grades of weight is done according to that
type of flour that is desired.
•Milling In this the wheat is made to pass through a set of or sets of break
rolls; each set having two rolls which have diagonal grooves and which
move at different speeds in opposite direction from each other. The grooves
are so designed and speed of break rolls so adjusted that the wheat kernels
(grains) is broken only gradually.
•Maturing The flour obtained is bleached and made to measure chemically
or naturally for about 10 to 15 days after which it is packed and marketed.
Rice
•Rice is the cereal which is consumed worldwide.
•Chinese claims to have started producing rice first although the claim is
debatable.
•It is said that rice was produced around 3500 years back and over the
years many more varieties have been developed.
•In India around 70% of the population are rice eaters and Tamil Nadu is
known as the “Rice bowl of India”.
•India is second largest exporter of rice after China.
Structure of rice
Rice products
•Rice bran:- This is mostly used in Japan as an animal feed. It is also used for
pickling vegetables after fermenting.
•Rice wine:- Sake and Mirim are the two varieties of rice wines popular in
the world, wildly used in Chinese and Oriental cuisine.
•Rice vinegar:- A byproduct of rice wine.
•Rice noodle or rice vermicelli.
•Puffed rice:- The rice grain is made to puff up by griddling/broiling. Thus
rice gets puffed up.
•Rice flour:- It is used as a thickening agent and used for making rice based
pudding like “PHIRNEY” and snack; example: Phulwadi.
•Rice flakes or pressed rice:- In this rice , rice is first boiled, water is drained
or starch gets drained and then the rice is pressed between rollers and then
Sun dried.
VARIOUS GRAINS/ CEREALS:
Corn: Corn is the only grain that is eaten fresh as vegetables.
Cornmeal: it is made by drying and grinding a special type of corn known as
dent, which is yellow, white or blue. Cornmeal is often used in breads, as
coating for fried foods.
Barley: it is one of the old culinary grains. It is used in making beers. It is
used in making soups, stews and stuffing.
Buckwheat: it is not wheat not a grain. But it is includes here because it is
cooked in the same manner as other grains are cooked. Raw buckwheat is
ground into flour, used in making pasta, breads, pancakes etc.
Oats: after rice, oat is mostly accepted whole grain product in the American
diets. Used in breakfast preparations, breads and muffins.
Wheat: Different flours from
wheat grains
•Cracked wheat – it is whole wheat kernel broken into varying
coarseness.
•Bulgur- these are wheat berry that has the bran removed.
•Couscous- it is made by removing the bran and germ form durum wheat
berries. it is traditionally served in south African stews.
PULSES AND LEGUMES
PULSES AND LEGUMES
•Legumes are dried seeds from plant which belongs to leguminosae
family.
•Legumes are next in importance to cereals as sources of human food.
They contain more protein than any other vegetables product and so
are nearer to animal flesh in food value.
•Legumes form an important part of the Indian vegetarian meal. A
combination of cereal and pulses makes a balance diets.
•Pulses are one of the staple foods in India, many North African
countries (chick peas and broad beans) and South America (red kidney
beans)
Legume composition
Nam Water Protein Carbohydrat Fa
Broad beans 12 25 58 1
Common moong 11 24 60 1
Soya beans 10 37 34 18
Lentil 11 25 60 1
Chickpeas 11 21 68 5
Peas 12 24 60 1
Different varieties of legumes
•Bengal gram- chana
•Black gram- urad dal
•Red gram- arhar dal, tur dal
•Green gram- moong dal
•Lentil- masoor dal
•Kidney beans – rajma
•Soyabeans
•Kabuli chana
Uses of pulses :
•Whole / split gram can be used widely for different Indian dal
preparation. Eg- red gram, rajma etc.
•Tender seeds when green can be eaten raw
•Different pulses can be used in making soups ex- lentil soups
Thank You
