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> The Indians and Pakistani use chick pea flour to thicken their curries. I
> was wondering if any of those that had flour mills had tried grinding up
> some chick peas. Presumably it would thicken gravies very nicely. Maybe
> somebody out there could try this and let us know the results?

It's _wonderful_.  You can get it (usually just called "pea flour") at
any Indian food store, and you can use it for a million things.  It
thickens gravies marvelously; I keep a jar of it next to my jar of
corn starch and pick one or the other depending on whether I'm thickening
a clear or an opaque sauce.  I've made dumplings with it, and I used it
for latkes last chanukah.

My mother-in-law has come up with a _lot_ of things to do with it--cakes
(direct substitution of pea flour for wheat flour in cake recipes seems
to work fine), apple brown betty, fish-fry batter (pea flour, a dash of
lemon pepper and enough water to turn it into a batter--nothing else,
and it tastes terrific).

I haven't spent enough time experimenting with it to be able to post
recipes, but it seems to be a very forgiving flour.  Get some and play
with it, it's amazing stuff.

Speaking of indian foods, if you haven't discovered papadums yet, try 'em.
They're thin sheets of a dried chick-pea batter (a bit like uncooked pasta,
conceptually) which you either deep-fry or brush both sides with a thin
layer of vegetable oil and microwave.  They puff up and become very
crunchy and tasty.  Also available at indian food stores, and in California
at least they're now showing up in health food stores.

                                                eh