Chickpea Flour Pancakes (Besan Chilla/Cheela) – Traditional Pancakes Taken To The Next Level
- Updated on Feb 20, 2017
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I’d been wanting to try chickpea flour pancakes (sometimes known as besan or garbanzo flour too, or even besan chilla and cheela) and there are nearly as many different ways to make them as there are names!
Actually, I’d heard of so many that I got a little stuck with where to start.
I knew I wanted to keep them pretty traditional (I absolutely love Indian food and these have a lot of history in Northern India) and so I wanted to keep that lovely Indian flavour but I also wanted to give them a modern, western twist so they’d be really quick and use no mysterious ingredients I’d have to travel across Europe for.
After plenty of trial and error, this is what was born. Different to most pancakes that we’ve made in the past, these are decidedly savoury.
Our now world-famous 2 ingredient pancakes can be eaten both sweet or savoury, as can these high protein cottage cheese, but these chickpea pancakes are something else entirely.
With a pleasingly aromatic smell, these pancakes immediately ask to be paired with pickles and chutneys, or a yogurt or cream dip. Hummus and guacamole also go really well.
And so, dear readers, we give you chickpea pancakes.
A high protein, high fibre breakfast, lunch or dinner that tastes like the best of Indian cuisine while being easy to make, and even easier to eat.
Any vegans out there will also be pleased to hear that these are right up their street, as well will gluten or lactose avoiders.
Chickpea Pancakes – What I Learnt
As mentioned, these chickpea (or besan/chillas) pancakes are exceptionally easy to make, and made even better when these simple rules are followed.
- Use a large pan. These pancakes are far superior when they’re thin – easier to flip and the veggies get cooked better too.
- Use a non-stick pan, and use a little tissue to make sure the surface is evenly coated in oil.
- Use whatever veg you have laying around. This dish works on so many levels that virtually any vegetable will work with it, so here’s your chance to use those leftovers!
- Dice the veg finely. The smaller it’s chopped, the better it cooks.
- Eat them hot! In my humble opinion this is imperative, so if you’re cooking multiple pancakes then keep them warm in the oven.
- Once they’re all ready, don’t dawdle 🙂
To ghee or not to ghee, that is the question.
Throughout my experiments with this recipe, I came across a very interesting topic, worthy of our time.
Ghee is often used in Indian cooking, and, as may well be expected, goes very well as the cooking base in this dish (it replaces the oil).
It is made by melting butter and then removing the milk solids. It still has that buttery taste, and has a really high smoke point, so it’s perfect for pancakes.
It’s also high in vitamins A and E, and according to Care2 it can last for a verrrrry long time!
It is not vegan of course, however it does seem to be one of the only dairy products that is lactose-free, or so low in lactose that it won’t cause a reaction to dairy intolerant people anyway.
You should always check with your doctor of course and that doesn’t mean it’s safe for dairy allergic peeps however, so if you are, we highly advise you stay away!
If you’re interested in ghee and would like to try it, it’s easy to find. You can click here or in the recipe below if you’d like to look at the different types available.
So – up to you. Whether you go with ghee or stick with olive oil, you’re in for a treat. Welcome to the next level of pancake!
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup chickpea flour (or besan/garbanzo flour)
- ½ cup water
- ½ tsp turmeric
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ tsp chili flakes (optional)
- 1 spring onions
- 1 tsp olive oil (ghee would be perfect here, but not vegan)
Topping suggestions
- ¼ bell pepper, red
- ¼ cup peas
- 1 tbsp hummus
Instructions
- Add the chickpea flour, water, turmeric, salt, pepper and chili flakes (if using) to a mixing bowl and give it a quick blend using a food processor or blender. Leave it to settle for a few minutes while you heat up the oil or ghee in a non-stick pan. The batter needs to look very runny!
- Finely dice the spring onions and add them to the mixture.
- In a pan heat up the oil, then add the mixture when the pan is hot – medium heat should be just right.
- Cook for about 4 minutes – the mixture will quickly start to firm.
- Make sure you use a large pan here, you’re aiming for thin pancakes. They’re MUCH easier to handle!
- Use a large spatula to help you flip the pancakes. After another 2-3 minutes your pancake will be ready!
- Done! Add your desired toppings and enjoy (eg. peas and bell pepper).
Serving suggestions:
- Any chutneys (red onion is a favourite of ours) yogurt dip, hummus, avocado, guacamole, Branston Pickle (if you can find it where you are it goes incredibly well!).
NOTES
Nutrition
Comments
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126 comments
I tried making these today and I put fresh ground turmeric. I am Indian so put lots if green chillies, 1 white onion, 1 capsicum, and a few baby tomatoes. Alas I used a small pan but nevertheless they tasted awesome. Once ready I sliced some mozzarella cheese, stuck it in the micro for 30 seconds and it was absolutely awesome. Thank you.
That sounds really good, Arifa! Did you cook the baby tomatoes directly in the batter or on top afterwards? Your version sounds really tasty as well, I’m intrigued!
Thank you for recipe tasted great and so easy to make !!!
Woop! Happy to have another of the pancakes, Nicola!
Love these pancakes made them twice now. The wife can’t get enough of them super easy and so versatile made a garlic and coriander version tonight to eat with some chilli beef . They were brilliant I’m gluten free and have chron’s so haven’t eaten anything like this for years as the shop bought Gf free ones just fall apart and taste terrible. Would like to thank you for taking the time to put this recipe up. Made my day eating these.
Really glad to hear you’re enjyoing them, Jonathon! They’re a firm fave here, too. I’ll skip the beef but the garlic and coriander version sounds great!!
Hi, these sound great, am going to try. I can buy the flour, but just wondering if draining tinned chick peas might work if the liquid content was reduced? ( i have tins so i cd try straight away, ahead of shopping!)
hmmm, no I don’t think it would work. Good question really. If you try, let me know please!
Is it my pan? My hob? My ineptitude as a cook? Because my pancakes look nothing like those shown. In fact I’ve just tried to make them again and, though one turned out edible the rest went into the bin as a horrible doughy mess.
Oh dear!! I’ll take a video of these in the next couple of days. Sorry to hear about the result 🙁
Brilliant, I have just had these for lunch with garlic, tomato and mushroom, delicious and so easy to make. Thank you I’m sure I will be using this recipe again.
Hi Dave-Someone mentioned that they boiled chickpeas and dehydrated them before grinding into flour. If you do that, your pancake will flop, since boiled besan will not cling together. You would have to include egg to keep it together. Even dosas (a slightly different Indian pancake made with ground raw rice and urad dhal) will not hold if any of the ingredients are cooked. This is a hugely popular breakfast/anytime dish, and is worth investigation. Good luck!!
Hey Tony, thanks for the info! Will definitely have a further look into this. I love these pancakes, and any tips to help people cook them are much appreciated!
Thank you so much for this super easy and fast pancake recipe. I just added a pinch or two of turmeric and not so much spring onions. I added chopped tomatoes to the batter. These were so good, it will also make a good roti or flat bread. Do you have any Lupinen flour recipes?
Hi Deborah! Really glad you enjoyed the pancakes! They’re one of my favourites too. I’m sure the extra turmeric was excellent in them, the tomatoes too. We don’t any have lupine flour recipes I’m afraid – in all honesty I just had to look up what they were. It did take me to a great Monty Python sketch with lupins, but that’s probably not the answer you were looking for. Are they particularly tasty/nutritious?
hi Dave, sorry about the long delay, I just now read your response. I bought the Süßlupinen-mehl at my local grocery store. I also live in Germany btw. It’s a bit on the sweeter side and it’s yellow in color. I use it in smoothies, but I would like to use it in baking/pancakes too. The package says it’s an egg replacement and high in protein and fiber. The producer name is Borchers and the web address is: http://www.borchers-group.de. Oh one question…do you think the above pancake recipe would be good with lentil flour?
Hey Deb, no worries! The flour sounds pretty cool, now that I know what I’m looking for I’ll hunt some down too. Without trying the lentil flour myself it’s hard to say for sure, but I can’t see a bit problem! You might have to play around the with consistency to get it perfect, but I bet the taste will be great!
So as an Indian I can comment on this. We actually do make “pancakes” with a lot of different lentil flours. We sometimes make mixes of lentils and grains, sometimes just one type of lentil, sometimes beans and lentils.
we also play around with spices. India is a huge country and the spices that are used from north to south and east to west vary with frequency of use.
Like Dave said, you will have to play around with the batter consistencies to see what will work. But you will also have to play with how much oil you put on your pan because some lentil flours are stickier than others. You might also have to add some grain flours in to mitigate this stickiness. it’s all an experiment. So have fun and enjoy.