Pesarattu / Mung Bean pancakes

Finally back with a new recipe. Hope I can continue putting up more recipes as I did last year.

As far as I know, this is a very "Telugu" dish. This is a quicker & healthier option to Dosa. Quicker because there's no fermentation required. Healthier because it uses more green gram than rice. You can make it more healthy(and tastier) by "filling" it with different kinds of vegetables.

Upma is the favourite accompaniment to this. The "Pesarattu – Upma" combination is often called MLA Pesarattu. I am not sure how or why this name originated but that's how the combo is called.

According to me, Pesarattu is best eaten with Ginger Chutney. I don't know how to make this and I get this from India.

Though rice is not required for this recipe, I use a little bit of rice to give it the crispy texture.

Ingredients:
2 cups Mung Beans
2 tbsp raw rice OR 1/2 cup cooked rice
2 tsp Ginger Paste
1 Onion - roughly chopped
3 Green Chillies (adjust)
2 tsp Cumin Seeds
Salt to taste

For the filling: (optional)
1 Big Carrot – finely grated
1 Onion – finely chopped
2 – 3 Green Chillies (adjust) – finely chopped
1 – 2 tsp Grated Ginger

Method

1. Soak Mung Beans and rice separately for atleast 12 hours.
2. In a blender, add all the ingredients (not the ones under filling) except Mung Beans and blend to a smooth paste using as little water as possible.
3. Now add Mung Beans and blend to a coarse batter using as little water as possible.
4. This batter is a little thicker than the regular dosa batter.
5. Heat a dosa pan (crepe pan) to medium high.
6. Pour a ladle full of the batter and spread it as thin as possible
7. Add the spread the filling as required.
8. Pour a tsp drop by drop around the ends of the pesarattu and cook well.
9. If required, flip it and cook for some more time.
10. Flip it back and fold it in half and remove it onto a plate.
11. Serve hot with a chutney of your choice.

Note: This is a bit heavier than the regular dosa. You might not be able to eat as many as regular dosas.

This goes to Priya's Cooking With Seeds-Mung/Moong Beans