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Crusts, or what some call breading, offer that very important texture in crunch. Many people use plain breadcrumbs or flour as crusts, but when crusts are combined with herbs and spices, the crusts serve as more than just a crunch-deliverer: they add another layer of taste and complexity that can complement whatever is being encrusted and send it further along the path of gastronomic nirvana.
One of my favorite crusts is rice flakes, often called poha thik in Indian markets, where they can be purchased. They are cooked, flattened, toasted grains of rice that, when combined in a spice grinder with salt and peppercorns, and almost any other spice you can think of, create one of the crispiest crusts imaginable.
Lentils--especially pink lentils, which are really more orange in color than pink, despite their name--can be ground up and used as a breading for fish, chicken and tofu. Lentil crusts are especially good when they are ground up with coriander seeds and green peppercorns.
Try couscous, stale bread, cornmeal, chick peas, and even Cream of Wheat as crust building blocks. Almost any dried carbohydrate that you can grind up in a spice grinder to produce a powder will work as a crust. Finely ground nuts (I like pistachios, smoked almonds, and hazlenuts) also make excellent crusts. |
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