As I mentioned in one of my Facebook posts, Paromita is on a cooking spree. She’s trying out various kid-friendly dishes that are sure to catch even the most fussy-eater kid’s fancy. In fact if I just post Paromita’s recipes, I wouldn’t have to worry about blog content for a couple months at least. She sent me this pic two weeks back but I wasn’t able to post this for quite some time. I have been getting less and less time to spend on blog posts lately, thanks to my super-active kiddo. But better late than ever. Here’s Paromita’s chilla recipe made using beetroot, spinach, and carrots. I have a couple of more recipes in the pipeline, hope to post them soon. Meanwhile, hope your kiddos enjoy these nutritious vegetable chillas.
Beetroot, Spinach, and Carrot Pancakes/Chilla Recipe
A healthy, kid-friendly Indian pancake/chilla recipe. Your kids will love these nutritious vegetable chillas for sure.
Ingredients
- 2 cups semolina suji/rava
- 1 cup yogurt/curd
- 1 cup chickpea flour besan
- 1 cup blanched and puréed spinach
- 1 cup carrot purée
- 1 cup beetroot purée
- 2 tsp cumin seeds jeera
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 onion chopped
- 1-2 green chilies chopped
- 1 to mato chopped (optional)
- Salt to taste
- Oil
Instructions
- Soak suji/semolina overnight. Add only enough water to reach the level of semolina.
- Strain the pre-soaked semolina to remove all water from it. (Paromita used tea strainer for this purpose.)
- Add curd/yogurt and mix properly.
- Add ginger-garlic paste, chopped chilies, onion, tomato, and salt. (You can leave out chilies if you are making the chillas for toddlers.)
- Mix the batter properly and then divide it in three portions.
- Add beet root puree in the first portion, spinach puree in the second, and carrots puree in the third.
- Add chickpea flour (besan) in each portion of the batter to achieve desired consistency. (The batter shouldn’t be runny or tight. The consistency should be like the dosa batter.)
- Heat tava and drizzle a little oil.
- Lower the flame, pour the batter and spread it around to make pancakes (chillas) of desired size. Use a different spoon for each batter. (Paromita’s tip: You can try different shapes that kids might fancy.)
- Drizzle a bit of oil from the sides and allow it to cook.
- After the top of the pancake/chilla looks half cooked, carefully flip the side. (Paromita’s tip: “After the top part is half cooked slightly turn it. You can use another spoon to lift one corner and slowly sliding the ladle inside for support and flip.”)
- Cook on both sides, drizzling each side with little oil.
- Make the required number of chiilas and arrange them in a plate in an attractive pattern.
- Serve hot with raita, chutney, or tomato ketchup.
