Moong Dal Chilla with fenugreek, onion and cabbage

This is a recipe for a moong dal chilla or mung bean crepe with a different topping. The basic recipe for the moong dal chilla or crepe can be found here in my earlier post. And this time, I have a different topping to go over the chilla - a mix of fenugreek or kasuri methi leaves with sautéed onions and cabbage.

Ingredients (for 4 chilla)

Onion - 1, medium

Cabbage - 3/4 cup

Fenugreek / Kasuri methi leaves - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Add the fenugreek leaves to the moong dal chilla batter and keep aside. Finely chop the onion and cabbage and lightly sauté it. Keep the onion and cabbage crisp do not let it soften. Sprinkle some salt on it and mix it.

Heat a griddle and pour a ladleful of batter and spread it into a round shape. Quickly, spread some of the cabbage and onion mix and press down with a spatula. Flip over to cook both sides.

Serve the hot chilla with some chutney.

Peanut Butter Jelly in a Crepe

This is a slightly different take on the peanut butter jelly sandwich. Instead of adding this combination in a sandwich try this in a crepe. To make the peanut butter and jelly spreadable add a little hot water to dilute it. Add some fruit to make it a complete meal. Check this recipe for simple crepes and make them before hand and then make the filling.

Ingredients (for 4 crepes)

Peanut Butter - 4 tbsp

Grape Jelly - 2 tbsp

Banana - 2

Boiling hot Water - 2 tbsp (approx.)

Caster Sugar for dusting over

In a bowl add the hot water, the grape jelly and the peanut butter and mix well to get a spreadable consistency. The crepe is likely to tear if the butter and jelly is spread without the diluting.

Place a crepe on a plate and spread the butter and jelly mix and then place the banana slices. Fold over and put drops of the peanut butter on the folded crepe. Do the same with the rest of the crepes. Dust the caster sugar over the crepes and serve.

Breakfast Crepe with Banana slices and Cherry jam sauce

Crepes can be made with so many fillings, imagination is all it takes. Here I combined two ingredients that are easily available and are normally available at hand in any home - banana and cherry jam sauce. The cherry jam sauce is very easy to make and any fruit jam sauce can be made in the same way. Substitute with another fruit sauce for a completely different tasting filling. In fact it can be made into a DIY crepe breakfast right on the table. Keep chopped fruits and a couple of fruit sauces, syrup or honey and make different combinations for a fun and filling breakfast.

The recipe for a basic crepe is given here in an earlier post.
Ingredients (filling for 4 crepes)

Banana - 2

for the jam sauce

Cherry Jam - 2 tbsp

Water - approx. 1 tbsp

Caster Sugar to sprinkle

Thinly slice the banana and keep aside.

For the jam sauce - heat the water and add it to the jam in a bowl and mix well. With the back of the spoon break the jam solids. If the jam has whole fruits do not mash, keep it aside to top the crepe.

 

Place the crepe on a plate. Arrange a few banana slices in the middle of the crepe in a straight line. Fold one side over the banana slices then fold the other side over it.

Top with some jam sauce. Sift some caster sugar over it. Our breakfast crepe with banana slices and cherry jam sauce is ready to serve. Top with some jam sauce. Dust some caster sugar over it. Our breakfast crepe with banana slices and cherry jam sauce is ready to serve.

And yes, the caster sugar gets absorbed by the syrup real quick, speaking from experience! 

 

My only reservation to the crepe is the use of white flour and the next time I will definitely substitute it with whole wheat flour. This recipe may work with whole wheat flour as well because both flours have a glutinous character which is needed for making a crepe.

A Simple Crepe recipe

Crepes are credited to be French but research shows that many countries have their own version of the crepe. Crepes can be made either sweet or savory. In India, we have the patishapta from the East and the dosa from the South to compare to the crepe. And like the crepe, the dosa is now made with a lot of innovative fillings. Some time back, I tried making patishapta but the crepe turned to a glop of dough when I tried spreading the batter. And with that, I gave up trying to make the crepe. This time round, I checked for crepe recipes and narrowed on the one given here and was impressed with the result. I did add a couple of drops of vanilla essence to take away the eggy smell and added oil instead of butter to the batter.

Ingredients

Flour - 1 cup

Milk - 3/4 cup

Eggs - 2

Water - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1tbsp

Oil - 2tbsp

a little oil / butter to apply on pan

Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor and the batter is ready; I used the Magic Bullet to blend the ingredients together. Heat a pan and brush a little butter / oil. When the pan is hot pour a ladleful of batter in the center of the pan and swirl the pan in a circular manner to spread the batter. Make round pancakes in this way with the rest of the batter. Flip the pancake over as soon as the batter sets. Do the same with the rest of the batter. According to the original recipe, this batter can be stored in a tightly closed container in the frig for up to 2 days.

Add fruits or syrup or fruit preserves to make a yummy crepe for breakfast.