Perfectly spiced grain-free chickpea pancakes, topped with a fragrant chilli beetroot and coconut curry, and complemented with a peanut and coriander chutney.
Chickpea Flour Pancakes with Coriander Chutney & Chilli Beet
By Mira Manek (www.miramanek.com)
For years, I’d forgotten all about these chickpea flour pancakes my grandmother makes called pudlas, not realising they were so easy to make and were super healthy. A few years ago, my friend who moved to Bombay made me rediscover them – all the healthy Bombay-ites call them chillas – and that’s when I realised chillas and pudlas are the same thing and that these spiced savoury pancakes can be made with chickpea flour or ground mung beans, and they’re much more simple to make than rotis.
That said, pudlas aren’t the thing I turn to first or ever, and I realised that’s probably because they lack something. So it finally dawned on me that rather than having chutney and yoghurt on the side as a dip, these pancakes needed the work ready and done, they needed completion, they needed a facelift – they needed toppings! So here’s one of my favourite combinations.
Makes around 8-10 small pancakes
Ingredients
Pancakes:
200g chickpea flour
1 tablespoon natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon ginger, garlic and chilli paste
Pinch turmeric powder 1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped
220ml water
Beetroot curry:
200g, 2 beetroots, grated
2 teaspoons coconut oil
1⁄4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1⁄4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
10-12 curry leaves
1 tablespoon ginger, garlic and chilli paste
1⁄2 green chilli, finely chopped, optional
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
Handful chopped coriander
1 tablespoon coconut flakes
Handful,10-15 raosted cashews
Coriander chutney:
50g coriander leaves 2 cloves garlic
1 green chilli
15g peanuts
juice of half lime
½ teaspoon cumin powder
Method
Coriander chutney:
- You can prepare the chutney in advance by blending together all the ingredients. Leave aside.
Beetroot curry:
- To make the beetroot curry, place the oil in a pan on low heat and once the coconut oil has melted, add the cumin and mustard seeds.
- When the cumin seeds are brown and mustard seeds start to pop, add the sesame seeds and curry leaves. You can now add the ginger, garlic and chilli paste as well as the chopped green chillies for extra flavour and spice. If you don’t have a paste, you can add freshly grated ginger and garlic. Stir and let this cook for a minute before adding the grated beetroot.
- Stir this mixture for 5-10 minutes and then add the coriander and cashews. Stir in the coconut flakes right at the end and leave a handful for sprinkling on top when serving.
Pancakes:
- To make the pancake batter, using your hand, thoroughly mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl until a smooth consistency is reached.
- To cook the pudla, take a medium, non-stick frying pan and place over a medium heat. Allow pan to warm for a couple of minutes. Then pour a large spoonful of the batter on the pan and spread evenly in circular clockwise motions using the back of the spoon, pressing very lightly so that no gap is created whilst making the pancakes. Adding a few drops of oil on the sides of the pancake will allow it to cook well.
- Let the pancake cook for a couple of minutes on one side and then using a spatula flip and cook on the other side for a further minute. The pancake is cooked when a little browned on each side.
- Spread a thin layer of the coriander chutney, add a couple of spoons of the chilli beet and serve.
About the author: Mira Manek is a journalist, writer and healthy Indian cook with a passion for health and wellbeing. Indian food is not something we would usually associate with being healthy and is often perceived as being a very heavy and oily cuisine. Author, journalist and healthy cook Mira Manek has her heart set on changing that perception with her handmade food products, colourful blog and debut cookbook Green Daal Stories, out later this year. With her expanding range of products, menu collaborations with restaurants and wellness events and supper clubs Mira is bringing a new healthy concept of Indian food to the table. For more recipes, info on the release of Mira’s book and upcoming events and product news go to: www.miramanek.com or @miramanek on Twitter.