These gluten-free Kale Crepes are delicious, protein-rich eats perfect for a weekend brunch or a weekday dinner.I always have some organic baby kale sitting in the refrigerator that I can throw handfuls of into salads, smoothies, pestos, and even curries. This time, as I pondered a quick dinner I could put together for Desi and me — and I really, really was in the mood for some dosa-like dish– I came up with the idea of combining some kale with a basic moong dosa batter that requires the moong dal to be soaked for no more than 30 minutes.This is a superlatively healthy dish. Moong dal, or mung dal, like any other lentil, is high in fiber and protein, and divinely fat-free. Moong also contains iron and calcium, both essential nutrients to add to the vegan diet. Kale, a veggie we all know and love, is also calcium-rich, loaded with Vitamin A, and extremely anti-inflammatory which means it battles chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even slows down signs of aging.
The basic moong dosa recipe is a very versatile one. If you’d rather not use kale (although I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t 🙂 ), you could add spinach, cabbage, or just about any leafy vegetable. If you choose to use regular kale instead of baby kale, I would recommend removing the tough stems and blanching the leaves for a couple of minutes to tenderize them.
A few posts ago, I talked to you candidly about my weight gain, and my efforts to get back to where I used to be, or at least closer to it. As I continue along this path, it is foods like these that are helping me get to my goal. So far I’ve lost around 5 pounds which is not spectacular, but it is progress, and I know I could do better if I could just find the time to work out more often. Ah, well, someday.
For now, enjoy this recipe! Remember, you can make it fat-free by using a spray to coat the griddle when you cook these.
- 1 cup moong or mung lentils , soaked for 30 minutes
- 2 packed cups of baby kale
- 1- inch knob of ginger , chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic , peeled and chopped
- 1-2 green chilli peppers , like serrano or jalapeno
- 1 tsp cumin seeds , lightly toasted on a dry skillet
- Salt to taste
- Blend the soaked lentils with the all ingredients except the kale and water until you have a smooth batter of the consistency of a crepe batter.
- Add the kale and process on a lower speed so the kale gets finely chopped but doesn't quite blend into the batter. You want little bits of kale to be visible in the batter.
- Heat a flat griddle and when it is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles and skitters off, spray the griddle lightly with oil.
- Using a round-bottomed ladle, place about 1/2 cup of the crepe batter in the center of the griddle. Using the bottom of the ladle, spread the batter into a crepe using a spiraling motion.
- Let the crepe cook until the top dries out, then flip over and cook for another minute.
This looks very similar to a popular Andhra breakfast dish called ‘Pesarattu’. There are no greens or leafy veggies in it, but we use whole moong dal with skin, which gives it the green colour. I dont think we get Kale here in India, but making this with spinach or cabbage sounds like a great idea!
Hi Swati Sapna, I’d heard of Pesarattu but never tried it. How interesting! I will be sure to try this with whole moong next time.
Wow this looks delicious!!
I could only find the mung lentils in a sprouted form, do you think this would matter much?
I enjoy your blog and trying your recipes. Went completely vegan and gluten free in January and great recipes like these make it so easy and fun! Thank you!
Paula, yes, you can definitely use sprouted mung. Better, in fact.
Welcome to the blog. Happy you’re enjoying it!
Did you use whole moong or the split, yellow kind?
I will suggest this to my Mom, she can sub with Spinach. She has diabetes and this will make a wonderful breakfast option for her ( as well as for us… we all love dosas)
Manasi, I used the split, yellow kind. The whole moong would require a longer soak time.
Hi There, Is it yellow moong or green moong
Anon, yellow moong– the dal with the skin off.
That’s such a breazy recipe, esp with no soaking & fermentation required & not to forget the health benefits with it.. Interesting !
hi, i just found your page and everything looks so good! cant wait to tr y out some of your recipes.. how miuch wa
ter does this recipe call for as i couldnt see in the ingredients list. Thanks!
Hi Faye, use enough water to get a batter slightly runnier than a pancake batter.
I saw it this afternoon and made it for after school snack. My daughter just enjoyed it asking for more. Thanks so much. I think this will be on ‘weekly twice menu ‘surely.
soon will try other recipes and post back my feelings.
Roopa, so glad you and your daughter liked it. It’s one of my favorite healthy recipes for sure. Thanks for letting me know!
hello Vaishali,
I made the crepes for dinner tonight. Awesome 🙂 We’re trying real hard to cut carbs and we love dosas at home. This recipe tasted great and we all enjoyed it with pickles. Thanks for the recipe..God Bless
Meena.
Dear Vaishali, I love your blog and recipes and really enjoy trying out new things. I made the kale crepes yesterday and had to improvise a bit. Wish I would have read the comments before cooking. I used MUNG beans as the recipe called for but was suspicious because, first, I make dale with red lentils, and two because Mung beans seem rather hard even after 30 min soaking. So, I soaked them in boiling water and checked frequently, allowing almost 2 hrs of soaking all together. Also, with dale in mind, I added some red lentil. The recipe did not call for blending the beans with the soaking water, so I added some milk and 2 eggs (we are not vegan) for the desired consistency. The crepes turned out nice, but perhaps you may edit the recipe correcting to yellow split peas (as per your original intent) and specify how much water to use for soaking/blending? Thank you.
Hi Katrin, thanks for your kind words! Mung lentils are different from the mung beans– mung beans are the whole beans with the skin on. Mung lentils, commonly used in Indian cooking, are small yellow lentils that are pretty soft. You could try making crepes with mung beans, but you would have to soak them overnight and wait for them to sprout, for a day or so, before blending them. And yes, you do need to add enough water to the beans to get a smooth, spreadable batter. Perhaps my instructions on that were confusion. I will clarify.