Soft besan pudla strewn with grated vegetables and ajwain, the Gujarati cousin of the cheela, tender inside and lacy at the edges.
Breakfast · 12 min prep · 15 min cook · serves 3 Newly added
Ingredients
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- 1 cup water , approximately
- ⅓ cup carrot , grated
- ⅓ cup capsicum , finely diced
- ¼ cup tomato , seeded, finely diced
- ½ tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
- ⅛ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp ginger (fresh) , grated
- 1 green chili , optional, finely chopped
- to taste rock salt
- 2 tbsp ghee , for the pan
Preparation
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Whisk the besan with water, turmeric, ajwain, ginger, chili and salt into a batter slightly thicker than for cheela.
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Fold in the grated carrot, capsicum and tomato so every ladleful carries vegetables.
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Cook on a ghee-smashed pan like the cheela, medium heat, edges lifting, one flip, but keep pudla slightly thicker and softer.
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Stack on a plate under a cloth and serve warm with chutney.
In the tradition
Where the cheela is neat and round, the pudla is homely: vegetables scattered through the batter, edges left lacy, ajwain humming underneath. Gujarati kitchens make pudla when the vegetable box offers odds and ends, the recipe is less a formula than an allowance.
Sources & further reading
- Family recipe notebook (recipe #4, "Pudla: besan, veggies, ajwain, salt")
Classical citations mark where a tradition is drawn on; modern books are shared as further reading, not as prescriptions.