Chickpea flour pancakes

Are you looking for quick breakfast recipes? Then make these savory chickpea flour pancakes that can be ready in 30 minutes. Don't have time to cook? Make the batter ahead of time, and you can bake this in an oven.

These savory chickpea flour pancakes are my version of traditional Indian breakfast besan chilla or besan cheela. Besan means Bengal gram flour, and chilla means pancake.

To make these more filling, I have added grated veggies to the besan chilla batter. You can make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate it for a day or so.

These chickpea flour pancakes will be a good breakfast or dinner for busy weekdays. Baking makes this dish easy to pack in a lunch box or snack box.

And as baking is hands-free, we can utilize that time for other chores.

Let's begin making the chickpea flour pancakes:

• Add chickpea flour, grated veggies, moringa leaves, green chili paste, finely chopped ginger, carom seeds, salt, black salt, turmeric powder to a mixing bowl.

• Add water and mix the batter. Mix everything very well and make sure that there are no lumps. Mixing with a whisk will ease the job and make the batter lump-free. The batter should be of flowing consistency. 

• If you plan to bake this, add 2 tablespoon oil and incorporate it into the batter. If you want to make this recipe on the stovetop, skip this as we use the oil for cooking the pancakes on the pan.

How to bake chickpea pancakes:

• Take a baking tray and line it with parchment paper. To it, add batter so that the pancake will be of half cm thickness.

• Bake it for 30 minutes in the preheated oven at 200 degrees C.
• I baked the batter in 2 rounds, and it mostly depends on pan size and oven capacity. 
• Edges should turn brown. I prefer using a toothpick to check the doneness.

Stovetop instructions:

• Heat a flat skillet (I used a cast iron pan) and once it is heated well, add teaspoon of oil.
• Take one or two ladles full of batter and pour it on the hot pan. You can spread the batter according to your preference as some like thick pancakes and some don't. We generally make them thin so that they can turn crispy.
• Let it cook for 2 minutes, and then flip the pancake using a spatula. 
• Cook the other side for 2 to 3 minutes on medium flame so that the pancake gets appropriately cooked from inside.
• Repeat the same until you finish all the batter.

Recipe Notes and Variations:

• This is a vegan, gluten-free, and protein-rich recipe. This recipe is so versatile, and you can have this for any meal - breakfast or lunch or dinner or even as an after-school snack for kids.
• In this recipe, I have used zucchini and moringa leaves (drumstick leaves). But depending on the season, I use grated sweet potato, raw banana, green onions, coriander leaves, fenugreek leaves, chopped spinach, grated cabbage, carrots, etc.
•  I try to incorporate a lot of veggies into these pancakes.
• I used chickpea flour, but regular gram flour (besan) will also be good. And depending on the availability, I will use one of these flours. 
• There will be a subtle difference in the taste between chickpea flour and besan flour. You can read detailed differences here.
• I find chickpeas flour to be good for baking recipes and besan flour for deep-fried fritters.
• You can even substitute some gram flour with buckwheat flour, rice flour, or millet flour. I am listing out different combinations of flours that taste well. And these combinations are endless. Try to mix and match and include all kinds of flours.

1. Chickpea flour + Rice flour + Whole-wheat flour
2. Chickpea flour + Sorghum flour or Jowar flour + Whole-wheat flour
3. Oats flour + Chickpea flour
4. Chickpeas flour + Whole-wheat flour
5. Any millet flour + Chickpeas flour
6. Chickpeas flour + Buckwheat flour
7. Whole wheat flour + Semolina
8. Rice flour + Whole-wheat flour.

• This chickpea pancakes batter can be prepared a day before and refrigerated as well.
• You can also add sourdough discard to this recipe. Sourdough will give slight tanginess to this recipe.
• If you have excess yogurt (you can either use vegan yogurt or a regular one), you can use it to make the batter. Like sourdough, yogurt also imparts slight tanginess, which will be pretty tasty. I like its taste and add it every time 🙂

Some commonly asked faqs about this recipe:

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Besan chilla recipe:

Recipe

As you are here, you will love my other savory breakfast recipes. Do check them out!

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