Pudla (Savory Chickpea Pancakes)

I've been a little lazy and haven't been cooking as much... So, now I'm back. It's a Saturday night, and I wanted to eat something hot like parathas! However, I didn't have the energy to make the paratha dough, roll it out, the fry it... Too many steps! I had besan. What Indian kitchen is without besan (unless you've just ran out!) In terms of vegetables I had an onion, tomatoes, spinach and fresh coriander leaves. I also had ginger, garlic and green chilles.  Put all those ingredients together in a batter, and voila! You'll have pudla for dinner tonight!

So, this recipe is not from any website. But you can ask Googlebhai, and he will show you a list of websites which have the actual recipes in terms of the precise ingredients. I kind of just tasted my batter, and adjusted the spices accordingly. The most important part is to get the batter the correct consistency.

1 cup besan flor
1 tbsp whole wheat flour (or chapatti flour, or all purpose flour. This helps hold the batter better)
Grated or very finely chopped roma tomato
Grated or very finely chopped onion )I prefer red onions, as they contain less water)
Finely chopped (chiffons) spinach - about 1/4 cup loosely packed (when chopped)
Finely chopped cilantro - about 5 sprigs, and no need to add the stem after the last leaf

¼ tsp minced garlic

¼ tsp minced ginger

1 minced green chillie

Salt - to taste

Chilli powder - to taste
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch of ajwain seeds
Water - as needed
Oil for frying

1. Mix all the above together (except for the oil) and add water so that the batter is like pankcake batter
2. Heat a frying pan (medium heat on an electric stove works for me), add a little oil, put in a dollop of batter and spread it in a circular motion
3. If your frying pan has a lid, then cover the pudlo so that the top is steam-cooked
4. When the bottom is cooked brown, but not burnt, flip over and cook the other side so that it is brown too.

And I like to eat mine hot hot hot with some cold yogurt! Yummy!

Oh, and a good Pudlo is one which has a sponge, or as we call in Gujarari "jaari" texture. In other words, slight holes due to the fermentation.