Pancakes + Lentil = Lentil Pancakes
There’s been much talk of pancakes & Lent across blogs this past week. My mum mentioned some nice savoury pancakes made out of chickpea flour that she ate at a friends house the other day. The very thought appealed to me, & yesterday, when I was out of ideas of what to cook, I thought I’d try my hand at some pancakes, but using soaked lentils instead of flour. 
The equation sounded funny. Pancakes + Lent = Lentil Pancakes!!! LOL! Made these very simple & very delicious savoury moong bean pancakes stuffed with a mild cottage cheese filling. We enjoyed them with an explosive red chili garlic chutney which comes from South India. Oh yes, & before I forget, the old platter is one that my mother gave me. It’s from her childhood, & I love it’s rustic feel.
The flavours came together very well. The kids however wouldn’t touch the chutney with a bargepole, so they had them like crepes, rolled with a cheese spread within! If you like, you can omit the asefoetida. 
MOONG BEAN PANCAKESIngredients:
1 cup moong dal beans; soaked for 2-3 hours in tepid water
A generous pinch asefoetida (hing)
Salt to taste
1 small piece of ginger; minced
1/2 bunch of fresh coriander; finely chopped
1 green chili; finely chopped
Filling:
250 gms cottage cheese; grated
1 small bunch fresh coriander leaves; finely chopped
1-2 green chilies; finely chopped
2 spring onions with greens; finely chopped
Salt to taste
Method:
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Mix the ingredients for the filling, check seasoning & reserve in a bowl.
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Heat a non-stick pan. On high heat, put about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup pf batter onto it, swirl it round with the back of a spoon in concentric circles, spreading the batter outwards, till it is thin & uniform. Put a few drops of oil around the edges.
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Once the edges begin to brown, flip it over & cook the other side too. then put 2-3 tbsps of filling. Fold over & cook for a minute. Serve hot with a chutney, or as a roll with cream cheese within.
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Makes 8-10 pancakes.
The event for March is hosted by the Laurie @ Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. There you go Laurie, this one’s for you! 
This recipe is also being sent to Original Recipes @ Culinarty for Lore’s ongoing event.
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
45 Comments
Asha
Very very nice!! Photos are gorgeous and great entry for Lugume event. Love the condiments as well! 🙂
Miette
Very original and very beautiful recipe ! The pictures look tasty ! I love your blog !
Cheers,
Miette
Fitri
in persian kitchen we use much of lentil too, and I will love to try your recipes. It’s look so delicious.
btw, love the plate and spoon so unique.
5 Star Foodie
What a great idea to make these lentil pancakes – yum! We love pancakes of all kinds!
Arundathi
that looks delicious, deeba. love the filling especially. and so healthy too! so curious about the chutney – it looks so great – did you happen to get it here in chennai?
diva
deeba! did u have a good Shrove’s Tuesday then?? we had loads of pancakes with lemon and sugar, chorizo and cheese. tres amazing. anyway, thanks for the email again. the blog is finally fixed…so all shd be in working order. yay! x
Happy cook
Wow they looks so creative and i love the filling.
Looks so delicious.
Yeah here panckae tuesday was last week , normally i make pancakes on that day but we had gone for shopping to a another town so we had pancakes from one of the coffee shops there.
Superchef
even i make my moong dal ka cheela with ground lentils and not the flour..somehow it tastes a lot better! loved the idea of a filling in it, especially a paneer one 🙂 the pics rock as always!!
Pavani
Those pancakes look delicious. very tempting pics.
noble pig
These are beautiful. I have never used chickpea flour before. Very nice.
Aparna
Cheelas with dal rather than flour always taste better. We have this for breakfast on and off, minus the filling though.:)
Poornima Nair
Pancakes look delicious…Picks are awesome as usual:)
Dawn
oh yes serve with chutney! you have no idea how much I love this dish!
Helene
This is such a different recipe. It’s beautiful and the taste must be fabulous.
Arfi Binsted
hing… rather a foreign term in my kitchen. what is it? these look yummy and light.
Soma
Aren't these cheelas the greatest? I love them. Yours look reaally soft like pancakes & real neat idea to use cottage cheese to fill it! I have it with chutney or fresh salsa & I love the hing!
I have a post of cheela sitting in my draft & I forgot!!
TasteHongKong
Nice idea. It also looks familiar to me as though it is a Chinese pan cake. I have posted a photo at (just roll over ‘Chinese pan cake’ to see the shot). Thanks for the posting.
Reeni♥
How very clever of you! They look quite delicious!
Bharti
Yummy. And I love your mum’s platter- it’s gorgeous. I was on the phone with my dadi in Bombay the other day, asking her if she had any of her old bartans from before she migrated from Pakistan. Sadly, she gave them away a few years ago..I was a tad late.
Lisa
What great pancakes. To me they sound unusual and delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Nags
love these! and oh the plate too. so rustic, like you said 🙂
A_and_N
I love these. Almost like Adais. I love the garlic chutney, Deeba. Do you have a recipe?
Irene
These look so great! How funny, I just made crepes with buckwheat flour, I guess crepes/pancakes really are on everyone’s minds now!
Kitchen Flavours
Wow healthy and yum….Gorgeous color too…
Komal-Nishka
Deeba, another recipe of yours I am sooo going to try.. looks yummmy. delicious and easy.. Bravoo
Donna-FFW
This is so very awesome. I so admire people who make up their own recipes. So creative!
How To Eat A Cupcake
Mmm that filling sounds so nice!
♥Rosie♥
WOW Deeba this is so original and everything looks Soooooo scrummy!!
Rosie x
lisa (dandysugar)
Ooh, you’ve made another one of my favorite weaknesses, Deeba! How I love Moong Bean Pancakes. I’ve tried making once but next time I will DEFINITELY use your recipe. Excellent with the buckwheat flour and gorgeous filling pics!!
Snooky doodle
what a nice recipe! Look delicious
Gloria
Deeba all these look awesome!!! I love it Deeba, really nice xxxGloria
Lisa
An absolutely stunning recipe! Such beautiful photos besides. Will try this for sure.
Bunny
These look great Deeba, You are so adventerous making pancakes like this!
Cynthia
Debba, gosh these look fantastic and something I could definitely get into for breakfast.
Leela
Oh, these pancakes look delicious. And they seem easy to make. I will definitely make them. Thank you. 🙂
Ricardo
A lovely light high dining pancake, beautiful flavours mix and excellent visual. I am truly impressed. and inspired. 😀
meeso
Wow, way better than the cereal I had this morning 🙂 Looks savory!!!
PG
lovely! I just love the way you compose those pictures. It is such a treat to ones eyes! The plate looks beautiful too! Would love to own one such too 🙂
Usha
Looks inviting, lovely pictures !
Lore
Pancakes, crepes and flat bread are definitely one of my favourite things on Earth!!! And since I’m a savoury kinda girl these would be right up my alley. This would also make a grea kid-friendly way of serving lentils :). Thanks you for sending it to the Original recipes Round-Up Deeba!
maninas
wow – is all I can say. My mouth is watering. This is absolutely gorgeous.
farida
Such an interesting recipe. I might give it a try. Yum!
Rumela
I was made this for dinner tonight, and it was delicious! I was a little nervous it wouldn't have enough depth of flavor, but it turned out scrumptious. even my meat-loving husband liked it. I'm trying to do several meatless meals a week both for our health and our budget, so I really appreciate easy, vegan lentil pancakes meals. thank you for shearing your post.
judee@glutenfreeA-Z
This is my first time on your site. It looks like I will be back, alot.
I had a recipe similar to this that I couldn’t find, so I will try this one.. thanks.
Pavithra
Dear Deeba,
Thank you for a simple yet wholesome recipe. Made these for dinner tonight 🙂