BREAKFAST,  INDIAN CUISINE,  SAVOURY,  VEGETARIAN

Pancakes + Lentil = Lentil Pancakes

“Lentils are friendly—the Miss Congeniality of the bean world.”
Laurie Colwin
MOONG+DAL+PANCAKES2There’s been much talk of pancakes & Lent across blogs this past week. My mum mentioned some nice savoury pancakes made out of chickpea flour that she ate at a friends house the other day. The very thought appealed to me, & yesterday, when I was out of ideas of what to cook, I thought I’d try my hand at some pancakes, but using soaked lentils instead of flour. MOONG+DAL+PANCAKES3The equation sounded funny. Pancakes + Lent = Lentil Pancakes!!! LOL! Made these very simple & very delicious savoury moong bean pancakes stuffed with a mild cottage cheese filling. We enjoyed them with an explosive red chili garlic chutney which comes from South India. Oh yes, & before I forget, the old platter is one that my mother gave me. It’s from her childhood, & I love it’s rustic feel.MOONG+DAL+PANCAKES5The flavours came together very well. The kids however wouldn’t touch the chutney with a bargepole, so they had them like crepes, rolled with a cheese spread within! If you like, you can omit the asefoetida. MOONG+DAL+PANCAKES1 MOONG BEAN PANCAKES
Ingredients:

1 cup moong dal beans; soaked for 2-3 hours in tepid water
A generous pinch asefoetida (hing)
Salt to taste
1 small piece of ginger; minced
1/2 bunch of fresh coriander; finely chopped
1 green chili; finely choppedMOONG+DAL+PANCAKES6
Filling:
250 gms cottage cheese; grated
1 small bunch fresh coriander leaves; finely chopped
1-2 green chilies; finely chopped
2 spring onions with greens; finely chopped
Salt to tastemoong
Method:

  • Grind the soaked dal with just enough soaking liquid to form a nice thickish batter. Not too thin. Add the chopped coriander, green chili & minced ginger with salt to taste, & beat together well.
  • Mix the ingredients for the filling, check seasoning & reserve in a bowl.
  • Heat a non-stick pan. On high heat, put about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup pf batter onto it, swirl it round with the back of a spoon in concentric circles, spreading the batter outwards, till it is thin & uniform. Put a few drops of oil around the edges.
  • Once the edges begin to brown, flip it over & cook the other side too. then put 2-3 tbsps of filling. Fold over & cook for a minute. Serve hot with a chutney, or as a roll with cream cheese within.
  • Makes 8-10 pancakes.

MOONG+DAL+PANCAKES4

These pancakes are off to My Legume Love Affair, which is the brainchild of Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Each month she features legumes such as beans, peas, lentils, pulses, peanuts, as the central ingredient. MLLA9The event for March is hosted by the Laurie @ Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. There you go Laurie, this one’s for you! orig+rec

This recipe is also being sent to Original Recipes @ Culinarty for Lore’s ongoing event.

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

45 Comments

  • Asha

    Very very nice!! Photos are gorgeous and great entry for Lugume event. Love the condiments as well! 🙂

  • Miette

    Very original and very beautiful recipe ! The pictures look tasty ! I love your blog !

    Cheers,

    Miette

  • Fitri

    in persian kitchen we use much of lentil too, and I will love to try your recipes. It’s look so delicious.

    btw, love the plate and spoon so unique.

  • 5 Star Foodie

    What a great idea to make these lentil pancakes – yum! We love pancakes of all kinds!

  • Arundathi

    that looks delicious, deeba. love the filling especially. and so healthy too! so curious about the chutney – it looks so great – did you happen to get it here in chennai?

  • diva

    deeba! did u have a good Shrove’s Tuesday then?? we had loads of pancakes with lemon and sugar, chorizo and cheese. tres amazing. anyway, thanks for the email again. the blog is finally fixed…so all shd be in working order. yay! x

  • Happy cook

    Wow they looks so creative and i love the filling.
    Looks so delicious.
    Yeah here panckae tuesday was last week , normally i make pancakes on that day but we had gone for shopping to a another town so we had pancakes from one of the coffee shops there.

  • Superchef

    even i make my moong dal ka cheela with ground lentils and not the flour..somehow it tastes a lot better! loved the idea of a filling in it, especially a paneer one 🙂 the pics rock as always!!

  • Aparna

    Cheelas with dal rather than flour always taste better. We have this for breakfast on and off, minus the filling though.:)

  • Soma

    Aren't these cheelas the greatest? I love them. Yours look reaally soft like pancakes & real neat idea to use cottage cheese to fill it! I have it with chutney or fresh salsa & I love the hing!

    I have a post of cheela sitting in my draft & I forgot!!

  • TasteHongKong

    Nice idea. It also looks familiar to me as though it is a Chinese pan cake. I have posted a photo at (just roll over ‘Chinese pan cake’ to see the shot). Thanks for the posting.

  • Bharti

    Yummy. And I love your mum’s platter- it’s gorgeous. I was on the phone with my dadi in Bombay the other day, asking her if she had any of her old bartans from before she migrated from Pakistan. Sadly, she gave them away a few years ago..I was a tad late.

  • Irene

    These look so great! How funny, I just made crepes with buckwheat flour, I guess crepes/pancakes really are on everyone’s minds now!

  • Komal-Nishka

    Deeba, another recipe of yours I am sooo going to try.. looks yummmy. delicious and easy.. Bravoo

  • lisa (dandysugar)

    Ooh, you’ve made another one of my favorite weaknesses, Deeba! How I love Moong Bean Pancakes. I’ve tried making once but next time I will DEFINITELY use your recipe. Excellent with the buckwheat flour and gorgeous filling pics!!

  • Cynthia

    Debba, gosh these look fantastic and something I could definitely get into for breakfast.

  • Leela

    Oh, these pancakes look delicious. And they seem easy to make. I will definitely make them. Thank you. 🙂

  • Ricardo

    A lovely light high dining pancake, beautiful flavours mix and excellent visual. I am truly impressed. and inspired. 😀

  • PG

    lovely! I just love the way you compose those pictures. It is such a treat to ones eyes! The plate looks beautiful too! Would love to own one such too 🙂

  • Lore

    Pancakes, crepes and flat bread are definitely one of my favourite things on Earth!!! And since I’m a savoury kinda girl these would be right up my alley. This would also make a grea kid-friendly way of serving lentils :). Thanks you for sending it to the Original recipes Round-Up Deeba!

  • Rumela

    I was made this for dinner tonight, and it was delicious! I was a little nervous it wouldn't have enough depth of flavor, but it turned out scrumptious. even my meat-loving husband liked it. I'm trying to do several meatless meals a week both for our health and our budget, so I really appreciate easy, vegan lentil pancakes meals. thank you for shearing your post.

  • Pavithra

    Dear Deeba,
    Thank you for a simple yet wholesome recipe. Made these for dinner tonight 🙂

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