Staying and eating healthy is paramount in today’s life. A light and scrumptious breakfast plays a vital role to kick start your day. The first meal of the day is most important as it helps refuel and set off your metabolism. A healthy breakfast does wonders for weight loss too.
Moreover, in India, breakfast has always been a King size with lots of delicious butter melting down your ‘parathas’. Besides, there are several other light and filling Indian breakfasts that are delectable and healthy at the same time.
One such dish is Besan ka Cheela. Besan, or gram flour, is one of the most common ingredients we find in every Indian kitchen. Besan comes from ground chickpea, or Bengal gram. Due to its rich nutty flavour, besan (or chickpea flour) is commonly used in a variety of dishes – from pakoda batter to sabzi to dessert. It requires little oil to cook and can be topped with onions, paneer, tomato, coriander leaves for a flavoursome treat.
Here is the quick and easy recipe of Besan ka Cheela:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup besan or gram flour
- ¼ cup finely chopped onion
- ¼ cup finely chopped tomatoes
- ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
- ½ tsp finely chopped ginger
- ½ to ⅔ tsp finely chopped green chilies
- 2 to 3 pinches of turmeric powder
- ½ tsp carom seeds/ajwain
- ¼ tsp red chili powder
- Water as required
Method:
For batter:
- Take 1 cup besan in a mixing bowl.
- Add ¼ cup finely chopped onion, ¼ cup finely chopped tomatoes, ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves, ½ tsp finely chopped ginger, ½ to ⅔ tsp finely chopped green chilies. Do chop all the above ingredients finely. If chopped even in slightly large pieces, it becomes difficult to spread the chilla in the pan.
- Now add the following spices – 2 to 3 pinches of turmeric powder, ½ tsp carom seeds/ajwain, and ¼ tsp red chili powder. Use cumin seeds if you do not have carom seeds. Also, add salt as per taste.
- Add ½ cup water first.
- With a wired whisk begin to mix everything. If the batter looks thick, then add 1 to 3 tbsp more water. I overall added ⅔ cup water. Depending on the quality and texture of besan, the addition of water will be more or less.
- Mix to a smooth flowing consistency in the batter. Break lumps if any while mixing batter.
Cooking:
- Heat a tawa or a flat pan on a low flame. You can use an iron tawa or a non-stick pan. If using iron griddle or tawa, then spread a bit of oil on the tawa. let the pan become medium hot. Then take a ladle full of the batter and pour on the pan.
- gently with the back of the ladle, begin to spread the batter.
- Spread lightly and gently so that the cheela does not break.
- On a low flame cook the cheela till the top begins to look cooked.
- Then drizzle ½ to 1 tsp oil on the cheela at the edges and all around. Skip oil if you want to prepare oil-free cheela.
