Red lentil pancakes (masoor dal chilla)
Thin, savory pancakes made from soaked and blended red lentils with ginger, chili and cilantro, crisp at the edges and served with a cool cilantro yogurt, a high-protein Indian dinner with no flour at all.
- 150 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 2
- About $1.77 a serving
- 540 calories
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup split red lentils, rinsed
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 jalapeño, seeded
- ½ red onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped, divided
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ lemon
From your pantry
- 4 cups water, divided
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 540 calories, 30 g protein, 71 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $1.77 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No plain Greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cover the lentils with 3 cups water and soak 2 hours, then .
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Timer: 120 min
Dolly’s tip: Soaking is what lets them blend into a smooth batter. You can leave them all day in the fridge.Blend the lentils with ¾ cup water, the ginger, garlic, jalapeño, cumin, turmeric and ¾ teaspoon salt until smooth and pourable, like pancake batter.
Dolly’s tip: Too thick to spread? Blend in more water a tablespoon at a time.Stir the red onion and half the cilantro into the batter.
Heat a large nonstick over medium heat and brush it with a little oil. Pour in ⅓ cup batter and spread it quickly into a thin 6-inch round with the back of the ladle.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Spread in a spiral from the middle outward, like you’re drawing a snail shell.a few drops of oil around the edge and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until the edges lift and the bottom is .
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Flip and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, then stack on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: The first one is always the test pancake. Adjust the heat and keep going.Stir the yogurt with the rest of the cilantro, the lemon juice and of salt and serve with the warm pancakes.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
