Savoury Ayurvedic Veggie Pancakes
Healthy, Fast, and Versatile
Pancakes are one of my favourite types of fast food—not the sweet wheat flour ones but the protein-rich savoury ones. Ayurvedic cooking, a traditional Indian approach to food, emphasises the use of fresh, seasonal ingredients and the balance of different tastes and energies in each meal.
My first and foremost Ayurvedic cooking teacher and inspiration, Srimad Veenaji Tambe, wife of the late Padmashri Balaji Tambe, introduced me to these pancakes.
These scrumptious pancakes can be any meal, breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner.
There's no end to their versatility.
They can be prepared with individual dals such as mung, masoor, chana, or urid or a combination of them, with or without rice, according to your constitution and season. This recipe is particularly beneficial for Pitta and Kapha doshas due to its cooling and light qualities.
But that's not all; you can add vegetables for extra nutrients, taste, and texture.
Today's recipe is inspired by Divya Alter, an excellent Ayurvedic chef.
They can be eaten all year round; choose appropriate seasonal and fast-cooking veggies.
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Step-by-Step Guide to Making Perfect Veggie Pancakes
This veggie pancake is light and easy to digest. It is filling, and the vegetables add to the texture.
This veggie pancake is light and easy to digest. It is filling, and the vegetables add to the texture.
Ingredients and Benefits: What Makes These Pancakes So Healthy
Mung dal, a key ingredient in this recipe, is delicious and has numerous health benefits. Its sweet, astringent taste and cooling, light, and non-slimy qualities reduce Pitta and Kapha dosha without impacting Vata dosha, making it ideal for everyone. Mung dal is easy to digest and nourishing, making it a perfect addition to your healthy diet.
Chicoree is a great spring vegetable. Its bitter taste, light, and stimulating qualities make it an excellent way to beat heaviness and congestion.
Red cabbage is sweet and nourishes and builds the tissues. It strengthens and balances all the doshas.
Carrots are moist and oily, sweet, astringent, and bitter. In Ayurveda, they benefit the eyes, brain, and stomach and vitalise cellular metabolism.
Zucchini is super easy to digest, and its cooling and liquefying qualities make it an excellent vegetable for constipation. It is great during summer and autumn, but in spring, it is best eaten sparsely in case of Kapha constitution or imbalance.
Prep Ahead: Making Your Cooking Process Faster and Easier
Although the dish is prepared in no time, you could still make it faster.
The best approach is to prepare your meals for the week ahead. Then, you will know what you can prepare beforehand and what needs to be soaked.
My standard preparation is batch-grating ginger; this is a big time safer.
For this recipe, you could prepare the vegetables by grating them and keeping them in individual containers. This could be done either on the weekend or the evening before.
This will speed up the whole process in case hungry little people are waiting.
Offer the pancakes with a coriander mint chutney, for example, which you could also prepare at the weekend; this would also be a very tasty addition to many other meals throughout the week.
Final Thoughts
Quick and Healthy Veggie Pancakes
If you're looking for a fast, nutritious meal, these savoury Ayurvedic veggie pancakes are your new go-to! They are perfect for any meal and tailored to balance your doshas. They are delicious and healthy, made from protein-rich mung dal and packed with fresh veggies like carrots, zucchini, red cabbage, and spinach.
Simply soak mung dal overnight, blend with spices, and fold in the veggies to make them. Cook on a hot pan with ghee and serve with coriander-mint chutney or cucumber raita. These pancakes are light, easy to digest, and customisable to your taste and dietary needs.
For quicker prep, batch-grate ginger and pre-grate your veggies. This makes it easy to whip up these pancakes anytime you crave a nutritious and tasty meal.
Enjoy the health benefits and vibrant flavours of this Ayurvedic delight!
