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besan cheela recipe, how to make besan chilla recipe | veg omelette recipe

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besan cheela recipe
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besan cheela 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 cheela recipe more nutritious.

i make besan cheela often, but some how 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 cheela 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 similar recipes you can make are:

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 cheelas also make for a healthy tiffin box snack.

serve the besan cheelas plain or accompany with coriander chutney or sweet chutney or tomato ketchup.

besan cheela quick video recipe (39 seconds)

if you are looking for more breakfast recipes then you can check aloo paratha, masala dosa, rava dosa, upma, idlis and whole wheat pancake recipe.

besan cheela recipe card below:

besan cheela recipe

cheela recipe | besan cheela recipe | besan chilla recipe

besan ka cheela recipe - spiced savory gram flour pancakes. easy breakfast or snack idea.

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course breakfasts
cuisine north indian, punjabi
prep time 10 minutes
cook time 20 minutes
total time 30 minutes
servings 6 cheelas
calories 123 kcal
author dassana amit

ingredients (1 cup = 250 ml)

  • 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 (dhania patta)
  • 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 (jeera)
  • 2 to 3 pinches of turmeric powder (haldi)
  • ¼ teaspoon red chili powder (lal mirch powder)
  • ½ to ⅔ cup water or add as required
  • salt as per taste
  • oil as required

how to make recipe

making besan cheela batter:

  1. take 1 cup besan in a mixing bowl.

  2. add all the ingredients except water and oil.

  3. now first add 1/2 cup water.

  4. 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.

  5. mix to a smooth flowing consistency in the batter. break lumps if any while mixing batter.

making besan cheela recipe:

  1. 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.

  2. let the pan become medium hot. then take a ladle full of the batter and pour on the pan

  3. gently with the back of the ladle, begin to spread the batter.

  4. spread lightly and gently so that the cheela does not break.

  5. on a low flame cook the cheela till the top begins to look cooked.

  6. then drizzle 1/2 to 1 tsp oil on the cheela at the edges and all around.

  7. continue to cook till the base gets light golden.

  8. flip and now cook the other side.

  9. cook this side till you see golden spots on the besan chilla.

  10. fold and serve hot or warm. besan chillas 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.

  11. serve besan cheelas plain or with any chutney of your choice.

recipe notes

tips for making besan cheela:

  1. for small kids, skip the green chilies and red chili powder.
  2. recipe can be doubled or tripled.


this approximate nutrition information is per besan cheela

Nutrition Facts
cheela recipe | besan cheela recipe | besan chilla recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 123 Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 6g 9%
Sodium 427mg 18%
Potassium 213mg 6%
Total Carbohydrates 12g 4%
Dietary Fiber 2g 8%
Sugars 3g
Protein 3g 6%
Vitamin A 5%
Vitamin C 6.4%
Calcium 1.3%
Iron 5.5%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.


how to make besan cheela recipe:

1. take 1 cup besan in a mixing bowl.

besan for besan cheela recipe

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.

making besan cheela recipe

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.

making besan cheela recipe

4. add ½ cup water first.

making besan cheela recipe

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.

making besan cheela recipe

6. mix to a smooth flowing consistency in the batter. break lumps if any while mixing batter.

making besan cheela recipe

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.

making besan cheela recipe

8. gently with the back of the ladle, begin to spread the batter.

batter for making besan cheela recipe

9. spread lightly and gently so that the cheela does not break.

making besan cheela recipe

10. on a low flame cook the cheela till the top begins to look cooked.

making besan cheela recipe

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 chillas.

making besan cheela recipe

12. continue to cook till the base gets light golden.

making besan cheela recipe

13. flip and now cook the other side.

making besan cheela recipe

14. cook this side till you see golden spots on the besan cheela.

making besan cheela recipe

15. fold and serve hot or warm. besan cheelas 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.

making besan cheela recipe

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.

besan chilla recipe




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Reader Interactions

{ 46 Responses }

  3. Hi Dassana, love your site!!! Can i ask – the ajwain, ginger, onions – can I tadka/fry them before adding to the batter to release the flavours?
    Thanks!
    Kas

  6. Tried it today they came out superb. Thanks for sharing.
    However, the chillas were very soft even after keeping on the tawa for a long time. Is there a way to make them crispy?

    • rithika, for crisp chillas make the batter sligthtly more thin. use some more oil and spread the batter thinly like a dosa batter. for this to happen, you have to mince or finely chop the onions, tomatoes etc.

  7. Hi, lovely recipe indeed. Besan (gram flour) is actually very healthy option for breakfast ingredient. What we all do wrong is deep fry it and decrease the nutritional value of it. However, this recipe is quite good. It uses very nominal oil and uses veggies too. The looks are tempting and off course, would be yummy too. Thanks for sharing this. I will definitely try this and share the outcome.

    • pooja, yes you can make sweet cheelas. i wanted to add a recipe of sweet cheela but not getting time. you can either use besan or atta. with besan, add some sugar and cardamom powder. with atta, you can add sugar or jaggery and fennel seeds (saunf) or cardamom powder.

  9. Hi,
    Your website is my go to site for anything Indian. Fantastic job! Thank you.
    I just wanted to say that the dual language recipe format is very very confusing. It would be better to have them separately. It’s a real pain when you need to read something quickly and you have to wade through two kinds of text to find what you’re looking for. Your previous single language format was clearer and easier to refer to. Please try to revert. Thanks.

    • hi nivedita, this dual format is a technical error. we are not doing it or implementing it. as the database is same for both english and hindi sites, its taking the hindi language as well for some recipes which have been or are being translated in hindi. we are looking in to this. there were some recipes which refused to come back to the original english language and after a lot of trial and error, we managed to get the hindi language deleted from these recipes.

  12. The recipe was awesome n it was very tasty.thanks for providing so yummy and brilliant recipe like besan ka chilla

  15. I tried it n it was yummy… Infact I was surprised I could even prepare it but all thanks to you ?????

  16. Hi Dassana,

    I tried the besan cheela for breakfast today. While the taste was pretty good, I had difficulty in flipping over the cheela without breaking. Even though I used a non stick pan and made much smaller cheela than the one in your pics, it just wouldn’t flip over in a single piece. Where did I go wrong?

    • shaheen, two things could be an issue. either water became too much in the cheelas or the cheelas were not cooked till golden & firm before flipping them. the amount of water to be added depends on the quality of besan. sometimes besan requires less water and some type of besan requires more water. if the batter becomes thin, then you can always add some more tablespoons of besan. while cooking if the cheela has become crisp and golden from the base, then you can easily flip them without breaking them. also try not to make them very thin like dosas, otherwise they will break. hope these suggestions help.

  17. thank you this is a very handy and tasty dish without much fuss and time involvement 🙂

  19. I love Indian food and I love your recipes – with one exception. Please understand that not everyone uses a microwave oven or pressure cooker – please include instructions for conventional cooking methods in your recipes.
    Thanks!

    • kat, i will try to add these. being in india, most households use pressure cooker. so thats why i mention about pressure cooker in the posts.

  22. if we mix besan with water & leave it for 20-30 minutes & then add onions tomatoes etc at the time of cooking our cheela will be more fluffy & tasty

  23. Actually I’m a south Indian from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, but I learned the TIFFEN SAMBAR recipe from ur blog only… and it became my MIL favorite…

  24. super recipe… I love ur all recipes. I learned lot of tips from ur recipe guidance. thank u mam.