In Gujarat, there are numerous ways to making a flat-bread and Pudla is one of them. The soft, spongy and marginally crisp Pudla made adding any of the seasonal greens or vegetable makes a very healthy and quick meal. In my home I call it yellow Dosa as my girls love anything that spells Dosa!! To make you comprehend better, Pudla are Gujarati styled pancakes. In the earlier times, these flatbreads came to rescue when all we needed was a lite meal or a filling breakfast, I still know family members who take a fistful of whatever flour available in the pantry, mix some shredded veggie or finely chopped greens to create a healthy and satisfying meal. Pudal are enjoyed with any achaar, chunda, chutney or yogurt and they need not be enjoyed hot as they taste equally good at room temperature.
The most common flours for making pudla are chickpea and millets be it bajri or jowar or ragi any flour works well . And there is nothing much to the recipe except mixing the flours with veggies, spices and water; bottle gourd, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, fenugreek leaves, spinach leaves are some of the popular options we choose from to add to the pudla batter.
Millets have long been an integral grain of our cuisine intact they are the ancient or heritage grains of our region. The wheat arrived much later to be enjoyed by privileged some whereas the millets have been common man’s grain. It pains me to read the west promoting millets and talking all fancy stuff about it and poor us following the bandwagon, not realizing these grains have never left us we still make food using them and the rural population still eat them to remain active and robust as ever. I agree to the fact that we need to demand these grains more so that the farmers grow them and begin to earn value for their produce. So please let us not forget the staples of our native cuisine!
Today, I have decided to enjoy the Pudla with Karya, a chutney of Ethiopian origin. This is traditionally served with the famous Ethiopian Injera bread. The simplicity of the ingredients just shines through in this entire meal. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have creating it……
Cucumber and Multigrain Pudla
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup atta/whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup besan/chickpea flour
- 1/4 cup jowar flour
- 2 tablespoons rice flour
- 1 cup cucumber, grated
- 2 teaspoons chili and ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- a pinch of red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 teaspoon oil
- some more oil to shallow fry the pudla
- salt to taste
- 1 cup water (approx)
Instructions
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except water and oil for shallow frying.
Add the water gradually to achieve batter similar to dosa's.
Mix well.
Place an iron or non-stick griddle or pan on medium flame.
Begin frying Pudla as you would make pancakes by spreading a ladle full of batter, spreading it a little thin and frying it with little oil on each side until it crisps up a little with some light brown speckles on both side of the Pudla.
Repeat until you have finished all the batter.
I like to allow the pudla to rest on a wire rack so that they do not turn soggy underneath.
Serve warm with chutney or chundo.
Notes
To make Karya simply grind or pound a cored and deseeded green capsicum/bell pepper with 2-3 cloves of garlic and salt to taste.
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