As some of you know, I’ve recently gone back to work and I love it. It’s a buzzing little office, we’re about 15 happy campers, from all over the world, everyone is so nice and funny….and they are all foodies. Which means there is mucho recipe inspiration going around. Just the other day, my boss was having her breakfast: a delicious-smelling savory pancake. Anyway, as we were chatting she must have seen me staring at her food, so she offered me some. It was so good I knew I had to go home and recreate it. It is India’s version of the French chickpea pancake called socca – except the spices make it taste entirely different. When I started researching it I found that it was called “besan chilla” and it’s a staple breakfast in Northern India. I tried a couple of variations and here is mine. They are wonderful, just tear them apart and mop up some of the fragrant yogurt sauce that comes with it. They are totally satisfying any time of the day as far as I am concerned.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpea flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/4 carrot, coarsely grated
- 3 tbsp coconut oil or your favorite vegetable oil
Fresh yogurt sauce
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 small cucumber, seeded
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Mix the chickpea flour and the water until smooth
- Add the cumin, chilli, salt, cilantro, carrot and 2 tbsp oil, mixing well
- Heat a pan on high heat and add 1 tbsp coconut oil, spreading it all over
- Pour a ladle of the batter into the pan – no need to spread it as it is quite liquid and will naturally spread itself out. Just perhaps take spread some of the carrots out so that they don’t all clump in the middle. When you see little bubbles appear and the bottom gets a golden color, flip it and cook for another 45 seconds or so. Repeat.
- In a small blender, place all the yogurt sauce ingredients and blitz for 30 seconds or until blended and all the ingredients are chopped up finely. Pour the yogurt into a little ramekin and serve on the side.
