Savory Vegan Pancakes - Pudla

I 'm a pretty adventurous eater - I love exploring new cuisines.  A new flavor?  A new texture?  Bring it on!  I'm no picky wimp!

I've spent two weekends with Dear Daughter recently, and being the superlatively thoughtful human being that she is, we gorged ourselves several times on excellent Indian food, a particular favorite of ours.  I just wish that we had such diverse restaurant options here in Savannah.  Since coming home, I have been thinking and thinking about Indian food, so today, I made some!

I have a very well stocked pantry, and money is pretty tight for me right now, so I'm trying to eat from my pantry to minimize trips to the grocery store.  I wonder how long I can go without food shopping???   I saw that bag of besan (Indian chickpea flour) in the freezer, and decided on the savory Indian pancakes called pudla.  It's a simple recipe, one that can be flavored many different ways, with tiny bits of veggies and savory bits stirred into the batter.  Yum.  In my fridge, I had a half sweet onion, half a tomato, and some cilantro.  That sealed the deal.  It took about 15 minutes to cook the pancakes, about 5 minutes to make the batter, and a half hour to let the batter rest, so the whole thing is ready in less than an hour.  

PUDLA

2 cups chickpea flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 cups water

1 cup minced savory bits - I used fresh tomato, cilantro and onion

Make the batter by stirring the flour, salt, garlic, cumin, pepper flakes and turmeric together, then slowly stir in the water, breaking up any lumps.  I used a stick blender, but you can use a  whisk or a wooden spoon.  Once it is lump-free, let it sit for 30 minutes.  This is a very important step - don't ignore it!  While the batter is resting, mince the additions - I minced up about 1/3 C each of tomato, cilantro and onion because that's what I had in my fridge.  This is a great way to use up little bits of this and that.

Lightly oil a nonstick pan, and cook the pancakes over medium heat for a couple of minutes, until the edges are dry and bubbles are forming all over the top.  Don't let the bottom get too brown.  Flip and cook for another minute or two.

Keep warm while you cook up the rest of the batter.   These are YUMMY!  The recipe made 26 silver dollar sized pancakes, but you can make any size pancake you want.  16 WW pts+ for the entire recipe.

 No besan?  Don't worry!  Put some dry chickpeas in your blender until they are pulverized.  Sift the bits out and you have flour!   I have used my Vitamix to make flour, including chickpea flour, many times, with great success.