Sprouted Moong Chilla

A delicious, crispy-around-the-edges moong chilla that's packed with veggies and all that's good for you!

A Moong chilla (cheela) is a savory Indian style lentil or bean pancake that's slightly thicker than a crepe or dosa and studded with vegetables. It is usually made with moong dal or mung lentils, but I make mine with sprouted mung beans for an extra nutrition bump. This is a delicious recipe to serve for breakfast or for a light lunch or dinner. Pair it with coconut chutney or eat it by itself. The chilla is gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free and vegan, and you can add your favorite veggies to it.

If you've eaten a Besan Chilla, an eggless, protein-rich "omelet" from north India, you will love this Sprouted Moong Chilla, an even more nutritious version made with sprouted mung beans or whole moong.

A chilla (also called a cheela or a puda or a pudla) is delicious and it takes barely any time and skill to put it together (other than a day and a half required to sprout the beans, which is hands-off time). The result is a rewarding, healthy breakfast or light lunch/dinner you are certain to enjoy and make over and over.

You can make this recipe with plain moong dal, which are small yellow lentils, and I will include instructions for it. But sprouting the beans is so easy and you don't need any special equipment--I do it with a colander and a bowl. And moong beans sprout so easily, requiring less than two days in a temperate winter kitchen. In case you've never sprouted beans before, I will show you how to do that as well.

Sprouting breaks down the amino acids in beans, making their protein content more available to the body. It also reduces the carbohydrate content of beans because the bean uses up a good amount of energy to sprout. Sprouting increases the Vitamin B and Vitamin C content of beans, and what's more, sprouted beans are far more easily digested by the body than the unsprouted legume. Sprouted beans are a healthy food for diabetics as well. And they are a cook's friend because they cook faster.

Sprouting is so easy, even a kid could do it. In fact, if you have kids, this is a fun project to do with them.

Why you'll love this sprouted moong chilla

• It's delicious. The chilla is savory and slightly spicy and hot off the griddle it tastes absolutely amazing, especially when dunked into a coconut chutney.
• It's so healthy. Sprouts are among the healthiest foods you can eat. I added to this recipe grated carrots and radishes. You can add veggies of your choice (use quick-cooking veggies like cabbage, bell peppers, zucchini and leafy greens). Kids will barely notice they are there as they wolf the chillas down. If you follow an ayurvedic diet, you already know that sprouted moong beans are tridoshic, meaning they are helpful for balancing all three doshas, vata, pitta, and kapha. These are also fantastically low-carb, so if you eat a low-carb diet you can enjoy these chillas as well.
• It's everyone friendly. The chilla is vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free. And, like I said, it is also low-carb and immensely kid friendly.
• It's easy to make. You don't need much skill to make a chilla other than an ability to blend, grate a few veggies and pour the batter into a hot skillet or griddle. If you know how to make a pancake you can make a chilla.

How to easily sprout mung beans

• You will need the whole mung bean--the one with a green skin -- for sprouting. Don't use the split lentils. Pick over the beans for any impurities like little pebbles or visibly spoilt beans. Place the beans in a colander and wash them thoroughly in a few changes of water.
• Place the washed beans in a bowl large enough to hold them and twice their volume in water. Immerse the beans completely in room-temperature water, top off by three or four inches more, and then let them sit overnight or for eight hours. By this time they will have soaked in a lot of water and will have almost doubled in volume.
• Pour the soaked beans in the colander and let the water drain out. Now cover the colander with a kitchen towel (I keep the colander over the bowl to catch any drips) and place on your kitchen counter or anywhere in the house where it's comfortably warm but not in direct sunlight.
• After 12 hours or shake them around in the colander, hands-free if possible or delicately so as to not break any tender sprouts, rinse them off, and cover again with the towel and set aside. You might need to do this one more time after 12 more hours have passed. The mung bean sprouts should be ready in a day or, at best, two days. You don't need the sprouts to be super long --you just want tiny white sprouts that are a couple of millimeters.

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole moong beans. Sprout the beans per directions above or, if you are an experienced sprouter, use any method you desire. To make moong dal chillas with mung lentils use 1 cup moong dal and soak for 8 hours.
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste. If you don't have ginger garlic paste chop four cloves of garlic and a one-inch piece of ginger and add to the blender.
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1-2 green chilli peppers, like serrano or jalapeno. Deseed or use only one or half pepper if sensitive to heat or making this for kids. You can even skip the chili peppers entirely and use a dash of black pepper instead.
• 2 tablespoons rice flour. This is not absolutely necessary but it helps make the chillas extra crispy so use it if you can.
• 2 tablespoons cilantro (coriander leaves). You can use more or less. I love cilantro here and use nearly ¼ cup.
• Vegetables: 1 large carrot and 6 small radishes. If using a daikon radish just ½ grated cup. See tips below on other veggies you can use here. Always chop the veggies fine or grate them for best results and to keep the batter spreadable.
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable oil or cooking spray

Suggestions for other veggie additions

• Bell peppers (capsicum, any color)
• Spring onions
• Spinach or any leafy greens
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• Corn kernels
• Beetroot (and/or finely chopped beet greens)

How to make the moong chilla

• Sprout the beans or, if using moong dal or lentils soak the lentils overnight or for 8 hours.
• Place the beans or lentils, all water drained out, in a blender with the ginger garlic paste, green chili peppers, turmeric and salt. Add ¾th cup of water and blend or grind into a very smooth batter. You can add ¼th cup more water if needed--the batter should be fairly runny, thicker than a crepe batter but thinner than a pancake batter. The veggies will also express some water into the batter, so keep that in mind.
• Place the batter in a bowl and stir in the rice flour.

• Next stir in the grated carrot and radishes or whatever veggies you are using, and finally add the cilantro. Taste and add more salt if you want at this time.
• Set the batter aside for 30 minutes. This will allow some time for the veggies to express any liquid into the batter.

• Heat a cast iron or non stick griddle and brush on some oil or cooking spray.
• Use a heat-proof ladle to pour approximately ½ cup batter on the ladle. I pour about ¼ cup first, spread it around with the rounded bottom of the ladle, then add the remaining ¼ cup to shape the chilla into a circle as best as I can. You want the chilla to be fairly thin but it doesn't have to be perfectly round. If it is really hard to spread the batter on the hot griddle you might need to add more water to the batter to get the right consistency. A tip I want to share here is to make these smaller when you first make this recipe--this will make the process far easier and you will get better with practice.
• Let the chilla cook on the griddle about two to three minutes over medium heat or until the bottom is golden and the edges are crispy. Flip over and cook for another minute or two.

FAQs

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