Moong dal Pancakes (Moong ki dal ka Chilah)

My kids and my husband are loving it that I am a food blogger now, they get to try things that I haven't cooked for ages now.....last time I made this for Sunday breakfast brunch was oh....about 10 years ago......

I find it so much fun to get all of the recipes together for everyone and most importantly for my kids.....who can look back and remember that our mom used to make this...and hopefully they can reproduce the dish without searching on web and going to through piles of cook books.... so here is to you kiddos.....Bon Appétit !!

This is a great Indian Breakfast/Brunch dish. This savory pancake is made out of Split moong dal which is a skinned and halved version of the whole moong beans. They are golden in color, have a mild taste and easy to cook. In Ayurveda, split Moong dal is recommended for children, elderly people and convalescents as it is easily digested and good source of protein.

This recipe makes about 8 pancakes.

To make these pancakes you will need following

Ingredients:

2 cups moong dal soaked in water overnight

1 onion chopped

2 fresh jalapeno

2 cherry peppers for color or you can use 1/2 chopped red pepper

1" piece of ginger finely chopped

1/2 bunch of cilantro leaves chopped

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

For spicy yogurt sauce to serve the pancake with:

1 cup of plain yogurt

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper or to taste

1/2 teaspoon of roasted cumin seeds powder

salt to taste.

You can serve these pancake with any sauce, Ketchup or pepper jelly.


Method:

* Soak the dal for about 4-5 hours or you can soak it overnight.

* Drain all the water out of dal and grind it in food processor to fine paste.

* Add chopped onions, cilantro, one chopped jalapeno pepper, chopped cherry or red pepper, chopped ginger and salt to the paste.

* Dilute the paste with water to pancake batter consistency.

* On a flat heated nonstick griddle, put some oil and wipe it clean then pour 2 table spoon of batter and in a circular motion spread the batter on high heat.

* Turn the heat down to med high and sprinkle chopped jalapeno on it, put some oil with a table spoon on edges of the pancake and some on the pancake.

* Cover the pancake, and let it cook for 1 min then flip the pancake and cook the other side until crispy and light to golden brown.

* Serve it hot with yogurt sauce, or cilantro chutney, or ketchup or any desired sauce, I serve it with the yogurt sauce and pepper jelly..........yumm.......

How to make spicy yogurt sauce: Take one cup of yogurt and beat it with spoon until smooth, and add salt, cayenne pepper powder, cumin powder and salt to taste. That's all it is ready to serve with the pancakes. Store the unused sauce in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Recipe and photographs by Surekha.