Besan chilla recipe with step by step photos – besan cheela is a savory and tasty pancake made with gram flour (besan), spices and herbs. Grated veggies can also be added to make the chilla recipe more nutritious.
I make besan ka cheela often, but somehow never managed to add the recipe. Usually I make the recipe shared here, but at times I also add grated cabbage and carrot.
A basic cheela recipe would be with just the spices sans any onions or tomatoes. there are a number of variations that can be done to a basic chilla recipe. You can also have a look at this Tomato omelette recipe which is similar. Apart from veggies, you can even add greens like amaranth, fenugreek (methi) and spinach (palak).
Few more chilla recipes are:
- Oats chilla
- Rava chilla (made with sooji or cream of wheat)
- Moong dal cheela
We do prefer tomatoes in all our recipes and they taste too good in a cheela, so I add them. But skip if you do not like. If using tomatoes, do make sure you chop them finely. You can even grate the tomato and add.
Besan cheela is one of the quick breakfast or brunch or evening snack one can make. You just need to mix everything and prepare the cheela. these besan chilla also make for a healthy tiffin box snack.
Serve besan ka cheela plain or accompany with coriander chutney or sweet chutney or tomato ketchup.
How to make besan chilla
1. Take 1 cup besan in a mixing bowl.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Add ½ cup water first.
5. 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, addition of water will be more or less.
6. Mix to a smooth flowing consistency in the batter. Break lumps if any while mixing batter.
Cooking besan cheela
7. 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.
8. gently with the back of the ladle, begin to spread the batter.
9. Spread lightly and gently so that the cheela does not break.
10. On a low flame cook the cheela till the top begins to look cooked.
11. Then drizzle ½ to 1 tsp oil on the chilla at the edges and all around. Skip oil if you want to prepare oil free chilla.
12. Continue to cook till the base gets light golden.
13. Flip and now cook the other side of cheela.
14. Cook this side till you see golden spots on the besan cheela.
15. Fold and serve chilla hot or warm. Besan chilla are best had hot. But if you are not able to serve them hot, then place them in a casserole. They remain warm and can be served later.
16. Serve besan cheelas plain or with mint chutney or any chutney of your choice or with tomato sauce. For more besan recipes, you can check this Collection of 45 gram flour recipes.
More breakfast recipes
- Aloo paratha
- Rava dosa
- Pancake recipe
- Pesarattu dosa
- Adai dosa recipe (delicious protein rich pancake)
Like this Recipe?
Pin it Now to Remember it Later
By Dassana Amit
Ingredients
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped or ¼ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 small tomato finely chopped or ¼ cup finely chopped tomatoes
- ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
- 1 small green chili. finely chopped or ½ to ⅔ teaspoon finely chopped green chilies
- ½ inch ginger finely chopped or ½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger
- ½ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain) or cumin seeds
- 2 to 3 pinches of turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ to ⅔ cup water or add as required
- salt as per taste
- oil as required
Instructions
making besan chilla batter
- Take 1 cup besan in a mixing bowl.
- Add all the ingredients except water and oil.
- Now first add 1/2 cup water.
- With a wired whisk begin to mix everything. If the batter looks thick, then add 1 to 3 tbsp more water. I overall added 2/3 cup water. Depending on the quality and texture of besan, addition of water will be more or less.
- Mix to a smooth flowing consistency in the batter. Break lumps if any while mixing batter.
making besan chilla recipe
- 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 1/2 to 1 tsp oil on the cheela at the edges and all around.
- Continue to cook till the base gets light golden.
- Flip and now cook the other side.
- Cook this side till you see golden spots on the besan chilla.
- Fold and serve chilla hot or warm. Besan chilla are best had hot. But if you are not able to serve them hot, then place them in a casserole. They remain warm and can be served later.
- Serve besan chilla plain or with any chutney of your choice.
Video
Notes
- For small kids, skip the green chilies and red chili powder.
- Recipe can be doubled or tripled.
- Grated veggies can also be added.
- You can also add greens like amaranth, fenugreek leaves and spinach.
- Spices can be altered as per your taste.
Nutrition Info Approximate values
Like our videos? Then do follow and subscribe to us on youtube to get the latest Recipe Video updates.
All our content & photos are copyright protected. Please do not copy. As a blogger, if you you want to adapt this recipe or make a youtube video, then please write the recipe in your own words and give a clickable link back to the recipe on this url.
Hello Dassana!
I followed your suggestion and made this chilla.
I skipped the chilies as I don’t like spicy food (and I’m on an indian website… I’ll have to adjust to that!), and ended up adding quite a lot of tomato, onions, and coriander, making it very rich.
It took me ages to chop them as I had never chopped anything before, but now I got the hang of it. Gotta start somewhere!
I did use fresh ginger, powder turmeric, and cumin seeds, but I put too little in it because I feared not liking the taste. Next time I’ll put more, I really like ginger despite it being spicy; I kept eating some raw pieces, very unique flavour, never had it here. The turmeric is incredible, just a little pinch made it all yellow!
I was suggested to add a pinch of baking soda to make it fluff a bit more.
I managed to find the right consistency after adding extra water, and I was a bit scared when pouring the batter, as I have never cooked something like this and it would be easy to make a mess or burn it. I didn’t! Turned out really nice and rich in flavour! (OK, maybe I did burn the first one a bit…)
We ate them for dinner, we liked it and it fills really quickly; easy to make and nutritious, and I liked the besan flour used this way.
Even my indian colleague liked it, I have her approval 🙂 she calls it dosa.
Thanks for the recipe and the suggestions, next time I want to try fereni suggested by a persian friend, and I already noticed you have made a recipe for it!
Have a nice day!
D
hello D. that is great. i am happy that you liked the taste of besan chilla. ginger gives a really good taste. baking soda is not necessary, but yes adding them make the chilla soft and fluffy. if you can get black salt, adding a few pinches of it also gives a good taste. consistency can be adjusted with adding less or more water. less water will give thick chilla and adding more water will make them like crepes.
most welcome and thanks for sharing the detailed feedback. you will like phirni too. i hope it goes well for you. you too have a nice day.
regards
dassana
Best receipe
Hi Dassana,whenever I have to google a recipe,I just seek ur recipes as your recipes as relatable,fuss free,u provide many options as well as u take care they are healthy..today I want to thank you coz I always check the recipe and never put any comment of ur hard work n just keep the praises with myself..keep exploring good luck!!
thanks jaishree for sharing your sentiments. i appreciate that. felt nice to read your comment. thanks again and wish you all the best.
Following your recipes for last 7-8 yrs. Great collection.
Adding a dash of lemon juice or chaat masala gives this recipe a great zing. All time favorite ,vegge besan chilla, of my kids.healthy and yummy.
thank you pammy. yes, that can be done and both lemon juice and chaat masala will definitely make the besan chilla chatpata. thanks for sharing this tip and for the rating as well.
Hi Madam..I like all your recipes.i tried this recipe however my chila was sticking to the pan and was breaking.could you please guide me?
when making chilla or dosa, use a pan which is seasoned well – meaning the pan should be used only for making dosa. you can find more information on seasoning pans in google. the pan should also be a heavy pan and not light-weight. if the pan is light, then the chilla will stick.