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Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain and Lentil Crepes with quick Spreads – Memories which root us in a time and place

15 September 2014 6 Comments

healthy wholegrain crepes, egg free and vegan

Growing up, we used to visit our granny every holiday. Reaching late at her house and being treated with warm and comforting Bajra khichda (millet porridge) was the best part of our trip.

She would welcome us with a sweet smile and rush to her kitchen to cook a quick meal. The wooden hearth would be hurriedly filled with charcoal to light the fire. She would then open the large round aluminum box placed neatly on wooden shelf and take out handful of wholegrain and lentil grits from it.

The spice-mixed grits were added to the earthen pot of boiling water on the hearth. In between her cooking, she would look at us admiringly from the side of her glasses and continue stirring the pot vigorously with a wooden ladle pouring ghee at regular intervals.

The food she cooked was plain and simple but it has created many enduring memories. These  memories are so special that they root us in a time & place making us happy every time that we cook the same food at home.

My mom follows the same and her kitchen shelves are always stacked with jars filled with various combinations of spices, lentils, millet and other cereal grits.

At home I do follow the same. These time-saving, versatile wholegrain & lentil mixes are really handy when you need a quick meal or are lazy to spend hours in your kitchen. There are many other ways these grits could be used to make a nourishing meal. I whip up a savory porridge, a healthy vegetable Khichdi, breakfast pancakes or Bisi-Bhele Bhat with these mixes.

Here is what I did with one of my red rice and lentil mix the other day, I made delicious crepes or Dosas or Chilla as called in India. Call it an Indian Pesarattu, Adai, Cheela or any other name, these crepes make a filling and healthy breakfast treat.

I have used a mix of brown rice and a popular Indian variety of Kerala rice called ‘Matta‘ rice in this recipe, you can use any other rice you wish.

1. Red rice lentil crepes

Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain Crepes

Ingredients;

(makes 10-12 crepes)

  • 1 cup red rice
  • 1/4 cup split green gram
  • 1/4 cup pigeon pea
  • 1 onion
  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns
  • 1 tsp. cumin seeds
  • Coriander leaves
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • Oil
  • Water

Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain Crepes

Method;

Wash red rice, green gram (moong dal) and pigeon pea (toovar dal) with water and dry in sunlight for a day.

Coarsely grind red rice, both the lentils, with black peppercorns (kali mirch) and cumin seeds (jeera).

Store the above mix in an air-tight container. It stays good for many days.

Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain Crepes

For making the crepes, take one cup of above grain and lentil mix and soak in water for an hour.

Grind the soaked rice-lentil mix into fine paste using a cup of water.

Add salt, finely chopped onion and coriander leaves to the batter and keep it aside for an hour.

Heat a griddle and pour a ladleful of batter on it. Spread the batter with the back of ladle into a thin circle.

Drizzle a few drops of oil and cook it for a minute.

Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain Crepes

Flip to other side and cook for another minute till the crepe becomes crisp.

Serve with green chutney or tomato sauce.

2. Foxtail Millet lentil crepes

Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain Crepes

Ingredients;

(makes 10-12 crepes)

  • 1 cup Foxtail millet
  • 1/2 cup Bengal gram
  • 1/2 cup Black gram
  • 2 dry red chilies
  • 1 tsp. cumin seeds
  • 1 onion
  • 1 tsp. grated ginger
  • Coriander leaves
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Oil
  • water

Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain Crepes

Method; Wash and soak Foxtail millet, Bengal gram (chana dal), and black gram (urad dal) in water for an hour.

Grind the soaked millet and lentil with cumin seeds and red chilies using one cup of water into fine batter.

Recipes | Healthy Wholegrain Crepes

Finely chop onion, ginger and coriander leaves and add it to the batter. Add salt to the batter and let it rest for an hour.

Heat a griddle and pour a ladleful of batter on it. Spread the batter to make a pancake or crepe.  Drizzle a little oil and cook on both the sides till it s crisp. Serve with chutney or a dollop of fresh butter.

Read on wiki about Foxtail millet . Here are the recipes of the two quick spreads served with these crepes above;

1. Coriander yogurt chutney

Ingredients;

  • 1 cup chopped coriander leaves
  • 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
  • 2 tbsp. yogurt
  • 1 onion
  • 3 green chilies
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp. roasted cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt

Method; Grind coriander leaves and mint leaves with green chilies, garlic cloves and salt into fine paste.

Take it out in a bowl and add rest of the ingredients and store in refrigerator.

2. Peanut-tomato chutney

Ingredients;

  • 3 medium tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup roasted and shelled peanuts
  • 1 tsp. tamarind paste
  • 2 tsp. red chilly powder
  • 1 tbsp. oil
  • 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • A pinch of asafetida powder

Method;  Grind roasted and shelled peanuts into coarse powder.

Heat oil in a pan and add crackle mustard seeds in it. Add chopped tomatoes, , turmeric powder, red chilly powder, tamarind paste, salt and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium heat.

Add coarsely ground peanut powder, asafetida powder and take it off from flame. Store the chutney in refrigerator. The chutney stays good for a week.

Notes;

  1. Use buttermilk to grind the batter for Foxtail millet crepes.
  2. Use the grits to make a quick healthy Khichdi‘ or porridge.
  3. You can even powder the grits and store for making instant crepes.
  4. Replace Foxtail millet with any other millet of your choice to make these crepes.
  5. Keep the batter slightly liquid or runny to get thin crepes. You may find it slightly difficult to spread the thin batter initially.
  6. These crepes does not require any fermentation.
  7. Prepare the batter a day before and refrigerate to make quick healthy breakfast crepes in morning.

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6 Comments »

  • Giorgia said:

    It is so fascinating reading about your childhood habits and your life, so different from mine…
    And it is a great pleasure discovering real Indian food through your posts, even if it is so different for me reproducing some recipes, due to the lack of ingredients I can find here in Italy…

  • The Steaming Pot said:

    Thanks for the recipes, especially the crepe with foxtail millet – it’s not an ingredient I’ve cooked often with. I got a bag of it recently and have been looking for interesting ways of using it. This is exactly the kind of recipe I was looking for!

  • easyfoodsmith said:

    Wonderful memories!
    That is a delicious and satiating meal. I would be happy to lap it up anytime of the day.

  • Destination Infinity said:

    Excellent pics. One suggestion is, for the main items, try to include the Tamil/Hindi names also (if any). Anyway, it was nice meeting you at the CBC meet yesterday. I remember commenting in this blog in your ‘I am following my passion by becoming a Food designer’ blog post. Please keep in touch 🙂

    Destination Infinity

  • anamika said:

    Hi,

    Lovely recipes! Can I do all the soaking the night before for the red rice dosa?

  • sanjeeta kk said:

    @Anamika, if you are using the whole red rice, soaking overnight is best.

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