Lentil
Moong Dal Chilla
🌙 Night Before
- Rinse moong dal (1 cup) and soak in water overnight (minimum 6 hrs)
- Blend and refrigerate batter — takes 5 min; set toddler portion aside before adding chili
Ingredients
Batter
- Yellow moong dal (split, skinned)1 cup
- Water (for blending)⅓–½ cup
- Fresh ginger, grated1 tsp
- Green chili, finely chopped1 (adults)
- Cumin seeds½ tsp
- Hing (asafoetida)¼ tsp
- Turmeric¼ tsp
- Salt½ tsp
Fillings (optional) & cooking
- Spinach, finely chopped¼ cup
- Capsicum, finely diced¼ cup
- Paneer, crumbled½ cup
- Coriander leaves, chopped2 tbsp
- Ghee or oil, per chilla1 tsp
Method
1 Make batter (night before)
- Drain soaked moong dal (1 cup) completely
- Blend with water (⅓ cup) until smooth — should coat a spoon but pour easily
- Add ginger (1 tsp), cumin seeds (½ tsp), hing (¼ tsp), turmeric (¼ tsp), salt (½ tsp)
- Fold in spinach (¼ cup), capsicum (¼ cup), paneer (6 tbsp) and coriander (2 tbsp) by hand — do not blend
👶 Toddler — set aside now (night before)
- Remove ⅓ cup of batter before adding green chili
- Stir in turmeric (tiny pinch) and hing (tiny pinch) — skip green chili only
- Optionally stir in crumbled paneer (2 tbsp) for extra protein
- Store separately, labelled, in fridge
2 Cook (morning)
- Stir batter well — add water (1–2 tbsp) if too thick
- Stir green chili (1) into adult batter
- Heat tawa on medium; grease with ghee (½ tsp)
- Pour (~¼ cup) and spread in a circle; cook 2–3 min until edges lift
- Drizzle ghee (½ tsp) around edges, flip, cook 1–2 min more
- Cook toddler batter on medium-low first — smaller chillas, serve flat
👶 Toddler cooking
- Cook on medium-low; make 2 small chillas (2–3 tbsp batter each)
- Press gently with spatula — no aggressive flipping
- Serve with plain yogurt or mild coriander chutney
Tip If chillas tear, the tawa isn't hot enough — wait 30 seconds before spreading.