Besan (Gram Flour) Puda (Dosa)
January 18th, 2007 filed under Miscellaneous, Vegan
Basen puda is a great dish to serve for breakfast or a light lunch. This recipe is quick to prepare and can be served many different ways.
Makes 5 pudas.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- 1/4 cup rice flour (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1 teaspoon chopped green chilies
- 1 cup shredded zucchini (Italian squash)
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (green coriander)
- About 6 tablespoons of oil to cook
Method:
- Shred the zucchini with the skin and keep aside.
- Mix the dry ingredients togather In a bowl, besan (gram flour), rice flour which helps for the crispness, salt, and cumin seeds.
- Add the water slowly to make a smooth batter batter should be consistency of pancake batter or Dosa batter.
- Next add the chopped green chilies, chopped cilantro (green coriander) and shredded zucchini. Mix well.
- Use a non-stick skillet and place on medium-high heat. To check if the skillet is ready, put a few drops of water on it. If the water sizzles right away, the skillet is ready.
- Next pour about 1/2 cup of the mixture on the skillet and spread evenly with a back of spoon. Starting from the center, spread in circular motion outwards until it is evenly spread about 7 inch circles.
- When batter start drying. Put 1 teaspoon of oil and spread over gently, using a flat spatula. Lift the puda from one side using a flat spatula (A flat spatula makes it easy to flip the puda). Flip the puda when it turns golden-brown.
- Next, press the puda lightly with the spatula all around so the puda cooks evenly. The puda should be golden brown on both sides to ensure it is crispy.
Tips:
Spresd the batter quick, otherwise batter start drying and cannot be spread.
Serving Suggestions:
- You can serve the puda with yogurt, chutney, spicy pickles, or ketchup.
- You can also fold the puda with shredded cheddar cheese, sliced tomatoes, or roasted vegetables.
Variations
- Zucchini can be replaced with finely chopped spinach, shredded potatoes, or very finely shredded cabbage.
- If you make the puda without vegetables, do not use rice flour. This will cause the pudas to be very dry.
- If you don’t have cilantro, you may replace with ground coriander powder. If you don’t have green chilies, you may replace with red chilly powder or flakes.
i tried this gram flour dosa today.i came out very well.thank u verymuch for this good recipe.
Wow!!! What an easy and yummy besan flour dosa. Thank you for this simple recipe
I’m from Europe and fall in love with Indian cooking.
I have sooo much Indian spices and I love the way you show how to prapqare it.
I bet it will be great with Rasam I’m making today.
My hubby would love it with cheese and I look forward to make it with spinach
Thanks Manjula for another one wonderful dish.
Namaste.
Ohh this looks fantastic really…i dont have all the ingredients otherwise i would start making it straight away
Love to u Manjula
I made them for my son so I left out the chilli in the mix and put chilli powder on mine. We had the cheese filling as well. Very delicious. Can wait to try some different fillings.
Aunty how do you make sambhar to serve with this?!?!
I didn’t have vegetables so I omitted the rice flour but mine came out wayyy too thick even though I spread it with a ladle. I added lots more water and then it came out great…just a tip for others!
Hi Shehla,
This is a nice forum because there are people from so many countries who write their questions or comments.
Dosas are a classic south Indian dish – cooked like a very thin pancake and served with south Indian style lentils (Sambhar) and coconut chutney and/or wrapped around spicy potatoes. Cheela are slightly thicker and a little softer. There is a lot of variations to both dosa and cheela.
If you have a chance to go to a south Indian restaurant, give dosas a try.
Hi Jaya,
Thanks a lot for your advice.I really appreciate it.Well Cheela is also not a familiar term for me as I am from Pakistan,my parents are from Delhi,and I think doosas are not popular in that part of India
Thanks again.
Hi Shehla,
At the bottom of the recipe there is a section for Variations. It will give you ideas for how you can substitute or even omit certain ingredients. You will see it for the Besan Dosa too. It will help answer your question about the zucchini.
This dish is like something called “cheela” in Hindi if that is a more familiar term to you.