Amaranth Flour

Amaranth Flour

Since, not everyone is aware of this unique type of flour, let's begin by finding out what is amaranth flour. Amaranth or Amaranthus is botanically a genus of herbs which consists of almost 60 species of inflorescence flowers. They are red, purple or golden in color and look very beautiful when displayed as ornamental plants. These flowers are a native to Africa, where they are used as a food plant even today. There are about three edible species of this flower used and they are; Amaranthus cruentus, Amaranthus caudatus and Amaranthus hypochondriacus. They have a very high nutrition level and are known to be a gluten free species. The seeds are known as amaranth grain in dietary needs of people who are allergic to wheat and gluten. These seeds are ground to make flour and this amaranth flour is used as a substitute to wheat flour for various types of delicious and healthy food recipes. Therefore, read on to find some delicious recipes for the same coming up in the paragraphs below!
Many people suffer from gluten intolerance, celiac disease and allergies of wheat or gluten. In these health problems, the body either can't digest or breakdown the gluten ingested from food leading to serious health issues, or simply detects the gluten as foreign substance and activates the defense mechanism. Therefore, for people who suffer from such abnormalities, there has to be a substitute to gluten which is a protein found in wheat and barley.
One such material which can be used effectively in such cases is the amaranth flour that is found to be gluten free and nutritious in nature. Other than the amaranth flour, you can also sort to bajri flour (millet seeds), buckwheat flour, chickpea flour (garbanzo beans or dried chickpeas) and coconut flour, which can also be called amaranth flour substitutes. Thus, many doctors advise this one of the cereals for patients in their daily diets for nutritious dietary requirements. Keep reading and find some great recipes coming your way!
Amaranth Flour Pancakes
Ingredients
1 cup amaranth flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour (optional)
¾ cup soy milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
Directions
To learn how to cook amaranth add the flour, egg, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl and mix it well. Then add the soy milk to the ingredients and beat the entire mixture to make a batter according to the desired consistency. Heat a pan on medium heat and add a teaspoon of oil. Pour the batter on the pan and prepare the pancakes as you normally do. When they are ready from both the sides, serve them with maple or chocolate syrup.
Amaranth Bread Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup amaranth flour
1½ cups brown rice flour
2 egg whites
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons honey
Directions
This is another recipe which can be included in gluten intolerance diet food. Thus, in one mixing bowl, mix the two types of flours and baking powder till they are mixed well. Then in another mixing bowl, add the liquid ingredients like beaten egg whites, milk, and honey so that they are also blended well. After this, mix the ingredients together and pour the batter into an oiled baking dish and bake it in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Cool it and let it set for more than 5 minutes and serve it with jams of jellies.
With this brief information about amaranth flour and its uses, hope you found out a better option to whole wheat bread and other flours which have gluten in them. You can always sort to these solutions that ignore your illness, as ignoring it is not going to help getting rid of it.