Tasty Bytes

so versatile the garbanzo aka chick pea aka cicci aka channa. It comes in so many forms and participates in so many cuisines.

A new Indian restaurant opened up a few blocks away – Flavors of India. We’ve been there four times now and give it a double thumbs up! The service is great – warm and friendly. The food is so flavorful and delicately spiced, not overly greasy. The naan breads are soft with a nice chewiness to them. I am so happy!

One of my favorite appetizers is the Pakora – chunks of vegetables coated in a spicy batter made from garbanzo flour, then deep fried. They serve this with a trio of mint chutney, fiery pickled ‘something’ and my all time favorite tamarind chutney. It is always difficult to decide between the Pakoras or the Samosas.

As you may recall I love Socca’s which are also made of garbanzo flour. I’d been meaning to try out the Indian version of the garbanzo (gram or besan) flour pancake called Pudla or Chilla. So when I was trying to decide a menu for a dinner party last night I decided to make a variation of the Pudla. I had in mind the pakora and Korean vegetable pancakes (Buchim). I also wanted to serve these with a tamarind chutney. So basically a pudla with lots of veggies in the batter.

Here is a pic of one of the pancakes frying:

and a fuzzy one of the pancake flipped over:

Here is the recipe for the Pudla along with a recipe for the Tamarind Chutney:

* Exported from MasterCook *

Indian Chickpea Pancake with Vegetables – Pudla or Chilla

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
2 cups garbanzo (aka gram or besan) flour
1 3/4 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 3/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin seed — toasted and ground
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground chili pepper — more if you like it spicy
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 small zucchini — cut in halve lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 small red pepper — cut into thin 1 1/2-2″ strips
1/2 medium red onion — thinly julienned
1 medium jalapeno pepper — finely diced
3 tablespoons cilanto — chopped
vegetable oil

Mix first nine ingredients (up to the black pepper) in a 3 quart mixing bowl – whisk into a smooth batter. Batter should be the consistency of a thin pancake batter while a tad thicker than a crepe batter.

Fold in remaining ingredients.

Heat a 10″ cast iron pan – or other nonstick pan with 1-2 T of vegetable (I like grape seed) oil. Use about 4-5 fl. oz for each pancake. Fry each side until golden brown. Remove to a rack on a sheet pan while you cook the remaining pancakes. These can be made ahead and heated in a 350 oven for 10 minutes.

Serve hot with tamarind and/or mint chutney.

I know I wasn’t being very seasonal with my choice of veggies. I like the red onion and red pepper but any other vegetable would be great – broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, mushrooms…

Here is the chutney recipe which is based on a google recipe search along with a recipe from this site…

Tamarind Chutney

Amount* Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate — Note this is the Indian type of concentrated tamarind – it’s very thick and dark like molasses.
6 tablespoons sucanat or brown sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon cumin seed — roasted and ground
1 teaspoon ginger root — grated
1/2 teaspoon ground chili pepper
1/2 teaspoon black salt — Indian black salt which is actually pink – smells like sulfur (or rotten eggs!)
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

*The quantities of the ingredients can be varied depending on how spicy or sweet or sour you like your chutney.

Put all ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and serve at room temperature. Can be stored in the refrigerator for a few months.

Enjoy!