DAL-PANEER CHILLA

Heeellloooo,

It's Mother's Day today; and I had a really lazy Sunday today. Did nothing to make my mom feel special. But then, in the evening when she said that she is hungry and wants me to make some snacks for her, I thought atleast I could do something now to bring a smile on her face. But then again, after a hectic week, I was so tired that my body didn't feel like doing anything elaborate. Suddenly, I thought about making chillas, a popular Indian snack, which is filling and really tasty. They are mainly made from chickpea flour, but I decided to make it healthier by using split red and yellow lentils. And people usually spread the cottage cheese or vegetable mixture evenly over the uncooked side of the chilla and then flip it and cook so that the mixture sticks to the chilla. But I preferred to make a filling instead, because this makes the taste of the mixture more conspicuous. So, here comes the easy and quick to prepare recipe, that surely satiates both the appetite as well the heart,  "DAL PANEER CHILLA".

Ingredients:

½ cup Split Red Lentil (Masoor dal), ½ cup Split Yellow Lentil (Moong dal), 1 tbsp Chickpea Flour (Besan), 150 gm Cottage cheese (Paneer), 1 large Carrot, 1 large Onion, ½ cup Green Peas, a bunch of fresh Coriander leaves, ½ inch Ginger. 1 tsp dried Mango powder (Amchur), 1 tsp Cumin powder, 1 tsp Coriander powder, 1 tsp Fennel seeds (Saunf), 1 tsp Black Pepper powder, 2 tsp Red Chili powder, Salt, Refined Oil.

Procedure:

Soak both the lentils together for 30 minutes. Blend together the lentils and ginger into a fine paste. And the chickpea flour and ½ -1 cup water to get a semi-thick batter. Add salt, fennel seeds, cumin powder, coriander powder and 1 tsp red chili powder and mix well. Next, scramble the cottage cheese. Chop the carrot and the onion. Heat 2 tbsp oil on a pan. Add the peas and carrot. Sprinkle salt, dried mango powder and red chili powder and stir for a minute. Next add the onions and fry for another 1 minute. Once the onions are translucent, add the scrambled cottage cheese, followed by the black pepper powder. Fry for a minute. Finally add chopped coriander and bring the mixture off the flame. This will be our filling for the chilla. Now, put the pan on medium flame. Pour 1 tsp refined oil and spread it on the pan. Now, take a ladle full of the lentil batter, and pour it right into the center of the pan. Spread the batter evenly with the help of the backside of the ladle, to get a round, chapatti-like shape. Wait for 10-20 seconds, and the flip to the other side. Pour 1 tsp of oil along the edges of the chilla so that the oil slips downside. Flip once again, and reduce the flame. Take 1 tbsp of the cottage cheese mixture and place it lengthwise on the center of the chilla as shown below:

Fold it into half from right to left, mildly pressing over the folded chilla with the spatula, so that the filling settles properly. Serve hot with green chutney, chili-garlic sauce, or tomato ketchup along with a hot green chili. It’s absolutely delicious that can be had for breakfast or as evening snack.