Besan Cheela | Besan Ka Puda | Vegan Omelette

How to make BESAN CHEELA | VEGAN OMLETTE | BESAN PUDA Recipe

Besan ka Puda is what my mother-in-law calls them as. Vegetable Omelette or Tomato Omelette is what I have always known them back at my place. Besan Cheela is yet another name for the same. It's a protein loaded breakfast made with besan (chickpea flour) and water, whisked into a dosa batter like consistency. Turmeric, salt and coriander leaves are added. As with traditional egg based omlettes, lots of finely chopped onions, tomatoes and green chillies go into this batter. Or you can leave it plain if you prefer.

Add more health if you will with finely chopped veggies like grated carrots, beans, cabbage or spinach. I love adding tomatoes, but that's totally optional (above pictured has no tomatoes, and the below pictured was made with tomatoes in the batter). My mom would use thinned yogurt to whisk the batter. It makes these pancakes softer and more flavorsome. She'd also place slices of Amul cheese on one half, turn over the other half of the omlette and cook till gooey and molten. The gooey cheese does something magical that no kid can ever refuse!

It's a healthy protein-rich breakfast dish that can keep you full and nourished for a couple of hours. It's good as a healthy evening snack if you plan to skip dinner. It is sure to satisfy your rumbling appetite.

You can serve these with some green chutney, but we've always had them with ketchup and I stick by it 😅. Besan omlette and ketchup is quite a combination! Well, it's memories you see.

Besan Cheela | Vegan, Gluten-free Omelette

INGREDIENTS

2 cups besan (also called as gram flour, chickpea flour, garbanzo flour)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 tsp chopped green chillies
1/2 cup chopped coriander (dhania)
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Salt to taste
1 cup water
Oil for cooking

DIRECTIONS

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and gradually add a cup of water to get smooth, dropping consistency batter, similar to the one we get when an egg is whipped.

Heat a non-stick pan/tava on a medium flame. Grease it well with a teaspoon of oil. Pour a ladle full of batter and spread the batter evenly in the pan.

Cover it with the lid and allow to cook for 4 to 5 minutes on a medium flame or till it browns in colour and the edges crisp. Open the lid, drizzle some oil and turn it upside down and cook the other side till it turns to brown in colour and crispy. Repeat the same process with the remaining batter. Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Served hot with either green chutney or tomato ketchup, this Besan Cheela is a lip smacking dish that easily makes up for an excellent eggless, vegan and gluten-free omlette with similar textures and flavors to that of it's egg-y counterparts, ofcourse devoid of that awful smell or taste from eggs. Gram flour has relatively high proportions of protein in comparison to other flours, so you'll not miss out on that. Though this is quite satisfying for our breakfast, this is a fantastic tea-time snack too. Simple and easy to make, it can be put together in less than 5 mins and is a good rescue for bachelor cooking or to serve at-the-drop-of-hat guests.