Here is a very simple and easy recipe for making spicy gram flour pancakes that are delicious and nutritious at the same time. Apart from being tasty, these besan cheela also make for a good filling meal for the day.

I often make besan cheela or spicy gram flour pancakes because they are easy to prepare and also a tasty option to opt for. Recipe for making besan cheel can vary according to taste of a person because this savoury pancake is actually very versatile in terms of recipe. One can make it differently every time just by making some changes in ingredients. Besan cheela are very nutritious also and can be a good option for tea times. Adding vegetables can make it even more nutritious.

The base of basan cheela is gram flour or chickpea flour, which is a good source of protein, iron and potassium and magnesium. Gram flour also contains some calcium, vitamin B-6, sodium and also contain 11 gram of dietary fiber in per 100 grams of gram flour.

Vegetables are going to add many pluses to this nutritious value of gram flour; therefore it’s a good option for breakfast as well as brunch. 

Mostly besan cheela is made only with some spices and its very basic recipe. You only need gram flour, asafoetida, cumin seed powder, red chilli powder, salt and water and you are good to go by mixing all these ingredients and making spicy savoury hot pancakes.  I actually never make this basic recipe, whenever I make besan cheela I surely add onions and green chillies instead of red chilli powder and I also add coriander leaves. I never tried adding tomatoes but I have been advised to try adding tomatoes but I don’t like tomatoes in every second dish. Instead I like having fresh salsa with these spicy pancakes; they taste heavenly with freshly made salsa. I am thinking to add some spinach and grated carrots next time I make besan cheela, spinach are one of my favourite greens. I really suggest adding your favourite vegetables and greens and give your besan cheela a personal touch. Here I am sharing my casual recipe for making besan cheela. I usually make very soft and fluffy ones, the batter needs to be very thin to make besan cheela soft and fluffy. If the batter is thick, cheela is not going to be fluffy and soft.

 

Recipe

Recipe for making gram flour cheela or pancake is very easy and there is absolutely no fuss. Here’s how you can make this tasty delight.

Ingredients:

The mention portion of ingredients will make up to 8 cheela or pancake.

Besan/Gram flour/chickpea flour - 1 & half cup

Onion - 1 finley chopped

Green Chillies - 3 finley chopped (If you don’t like spicy flavour of chillies you can opt for only 2 or 1 green chilli but don’t skill adding chillies)

Coriander leaves - 1 cup finley chopped

Water – 2 cups or as required (you may adjust the quantity of water according to the thickness of batter you want)

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon

Cumin seed powder - 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Oil - for toasting the pancake

 

 

Method:

1. Gather all the ingredients in one place. Doing so will make the mixing process much more easier because once you start making the batter you can’t rush to get everything from here and there. Now take a bowl and add gram flour.

2. Now add all the spices and salt, and then add chopped onion and green chillies. Lastly add coriander leaves and mix it once without water.

3. Slowly add water and keep mixing. Mixing by slowly adding water will insure batter does not have any lumps form in it. If still there are any lumps, you can use a mixing whisk to mix it well and evenly.

4. Heat a flat non-stick pan; you can choose to heat the pan on a medium high flame. Once pan is hot enough, sizzle some oil or use an oil spray.

5. Set the flame on low and now stir the batter once again and take a ladle full of batter and pour on the pan.

6. Now evenly spread the batter on the pan using back side of the ladle with light hands.

7. Turn the flame on high and cover the pan with a lid for about 15 seconds, now remove the lid and turn the flam on medium heat and wait till the sides of cheela turns golden.

8. Now drizzle some oil in the pan and flip the cheela and cook till it gets properly toasted from the other side also.

9. Transfer the hot cheela in a paper towel. Paper towel will absorb the access oil from the cheela then you can serve them or store them in a casserole to serve later.

10. Server the cheela hot with any type of pickle or sauce, cheela also taste nice when served with fresh tomato salsa or salad.

 

Tips:

1. You can adjust the water quality as per your choice and make very thin consistency batter for softer cheela.

2. Rest the batter for 30 minutes to get fluffiness in the cheela.

3. Add different type of vegetables and green leaves.

4. If you have added asafoetida then serve with pickles instead of sauce or chutney.