Paneer Stuffed Besan Chilla is one of those dishes which is high in taste and health! Super delicious paneer filling in the besan chilla has been one of my favorite dishes since childhood!
Contrary to what people think of me now, I grew up in a primarily vegetarian household. There would be once in two weeks, a chicken or a mutton curry and that occasional fish fry, that my uncles would get from outside and all this would be a fairly standard, nonexperimental stuff since mum was a vegetarian herself and dad never experimented with food too much. However, my mum is a home economics graduate and the fact that protein is important to eat was stuck in her head. So once a week (and sometimes twice) our breakfast would be besan ka chilla, usually the simpler one here, but then there would be days when she would make this paneer stuffed besan chilla and this is what had my heart.
She would make slightly soft, slightly crisp, thin besan chillas and they would be stuffed with lightly spiced homemade crumbled paneer with some more veggies thrown in. I remember for this particular filling and the paneer bhurji, the paneer would always be homemade and super soft and fresh. Homemade paneer, eaten raw is what a true delight feels like. If you wonder why people love paneer, probably tasting that homemade version of the paneer, is the answer to it!
Mom would roll the chillas and we would dip them in loads of tomato ketchup and eat our way through them, usually making everything around us dirty. Our hands and mouths would be red with ketchup and three of us sisters would threaten to dirty each other’s dresses with it or put a little on mum’s cushion cover and gang up against her 🙂 Yes, we were evil like that!
Off late, I have been craving a lot of my childhood food whether it is the Rajma Chawal, Lacha Onion Parantha or my mum’s tutti fruity cake. Maybe, it is the fact that the 40th birthday is round the corner and I am going through what they call as “mid-life crisis” and trying to find my identity, mulling over what have I achieved in this 40 years long life. As usual, I digress. So in the quest of making all things related to childhood, I present to you this paneer stuffed besan chilla or cottage cheese stuffed savory lentil crepes as they would call it if they were made in Masterchef!
Paneer Stuffed Besan Chilla (Cottage Cheese Stuffed Savory Lentil Crepes)
Ingredients
For the cheela
- 1 cup besan (Gram flour)
- 1/4 tsp ajwain
- 1 tsp chili powder Red
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- to taste salt
- 1/4 cup yoghurt
- water to make a thin batter
- to fry ghee Oil
For the paneer stuffing
- 100 grams paneer crumbled
- 1 carrot grated
- 1 onion small finely chopped
- 1 chilly green finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp jeera powder
- 2 tbsps coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
- Take besan, ajwain, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt in a bowl and mix well. Mix in the yoghurt and little water at a time and make lump free & thin batter.
- Mix all the stuffing ingredients so that spices are well blended. Keep aside,
- Heat a non stick tawa on medium heat. Once hot drizzle about 1/2 tsp of oil. Once oil is hot, pour a ladle of batter and spread it to make a round shape like you would pour a dosa. Let the cheela gets cook on one side about 2 minutes or till gets golden brown. Flip and cook the other side as well.
- Place 2-3 tbsp of stuffing in one side of the cheela and roll to make a cylinder.
- Repeat for all the batter, serve hot with mint and coriander chutney and tomato ketchup.
We have pretty similar stories – vegetarian mums and their love for protein chilas; except mine used to make mung dal ones. They’re more cumbersome but I love them. And pairing them off paneer is a great idea. Thanks for this one though. Besan chilas are way quicker to make. No soaking, grinding.
@om : she used to make that also however not so often since she was a working mum and the whole soaking, grinding, fermenting is a long process. I love moong dal cheela