North Indian
Besan Chilla (Chickpea Flour Pancakes)
Besan Chilla (Chickpea Flour Pancakes) is North Indian home cooking, eaten at breakfast. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups besan (chickpea flour)
- 1 onion
- 1 tomato
- 2 green chilies
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1.25 cups water
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 3/4 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Whisk the besan with the water, turmeric, carom seeds, red chili powder, and salt into a smooth pourable batter.
- Stir in the finely chopped onion, tomato, green chilies, ginger, and cilantro.
- Heat a nonstick pan over medium and brush it with a little oil, then pour a ladle of batter and spread it into a round.
- Drizzle a few drops of oil around the edges and cook until the base is golden and set, about 3 minutes, then flip and cook the other side.
- Repeat with the rest of the batter and serve the chillas hot.
Serve it with
A North Indian breakfast is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Besan Chilla (Chickpea Flour Pancakes), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The sharp little thing
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Besan Chilla (Chickpea Flour Pancakes) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Partial
- Food groups it covers
- Pulses and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Besan Chilla (Chickpea Flour Pancakes) takes about 25 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at breakfast. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on chickpea flour, onion, and tomato.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from North India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.