Sometime ago a recipe for Indian Chickpea Crepes popped up on my Facebook  newsfeed. I’ve been meaning to make these vegan treats for a while – like since last summer! – and seeing a recipe for it on TheKitchen.com pushed me over the edge to finally make this dish happen in my kitchen.

My husband doesn’t like coriander, so I used ingredients we both eat: spring onions, tomatoes and parsley. Due to the tomatoes, these ended up being more like pancakes instead of crepes in terms of height. My husband loved them, I loved them and I even had some for lunch with a serving of broccoli the next day. It gave me the opportunity to grind my own chickpea flour using my flour mill, something I’ve also wanted to test for a while.

This is a recipe to have fun with. Pudla is a very tasty way to pack up on protein, they go along great with salad or chutney and I hear you can make them in a sweet version, too. My husband is very iffy about legumes and eating too much of them, but he ate his pudla happily and was very enthusiastic when I asked if I could make these again soon-ish. I’m thinking I may try adding grated carrots and zucchini, or making a version with peas and sesame.

Mari’s Pudla (makes four pancakes)

150g chickpea flour (also known as gram flour)
200ml water
chilli flakes
150g tomatoes (cut into bite-sized pieces)
1 tbsp parsley (chopped)
1 spring onion (chopped)
2 tbsp fleur de sel
pepper to taste

vegetable oil (for frying)

Place the chickpea flour, the salt, the chilli flakes and the parsley into a bowl. Add the water and knead until there are no lumps left. Add the tomatoes and mix well with a spoon. Let the pancake batter sit for two hours. I suggest not trying the batter, uncooked chickpeas are not tasty at all.  Please ensure to cook the pancakes/crepes thoroughly to avoid unpleasant surprises at the dining table.

Heat up vegetable oil in a frying pan. Spoon a generous amount of batter into the pan, and by turning the pan at the sides or with the help of a spoon spread the batter into an even pancake. Let fry for minute before turning over and frying the other side until done. Repeat with the remainder of the batter until it is used up.

You can eat these plain, garnished with a spoon of yoghurt or crème fraiche. I also love the combination of tomatoes and broccoli, so I recommend topping each pudla with freshly cooked broccoli.