Indian Mung bean pancakes (Pesserattu/cheela)

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Mung bean panckake
Mung bean pancake (Peserattu)

Mung bean or moong dal pancakes known as cheelas in hindi or pesserattu in telugu are an easy and popular dish in India. Many varieties abound, with whole or split mung beans and with or without filling. For our Saturday dinner, I chose to make them with split mung beans because they take the minimum effort and soaking time, and because I am lazy like that and because I would rather just read a novel or watch a movie with DH on a Saturday evening than spend hours in the kitchen preparing dinner  :)


To make the pancakes (makes approximately 6 pancakes of 8 inch diameter each)
Take  1/4 cup of rice to 1 cup of split mung dal
Soak them in enough water to cover 

Along with 3 dried red chillies

and a shake/pinch of asafotedia powder (also known as hing this powder is easily available in Indian grocery stores. Its totally optional but I would totally recommend it)
Soak for two hours-(this is where using split mung gives me a major advantage, if I were using whole mung beans I would need to soak them overnight) and grind into consistency of cake batter

Heat a pan till it feels hot when you hold your hand a few inches above (on no account touch the pan) and smear about a teaspoonful of oil on it

Pour out a large tablespoon of batter with a ladle and spread in a circular motion
Heat on medium till you notice its starting to turn golden brown (about a minute)
Flip it over and heat the other side for 30 seconds
Take out into a plate and repeat

Enjoy your stack of pancakes with any pickle, jam, ketchup or chutney you have on hand


Click here for the printable

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