Pesarattu

Before you start

• Soak the whole moong and rice together for 6 hours or overnight. The skins must be soft enough to grind smooth without being removed.
• Pesarattu batter is not fermented — grind it and cook straight away, which makes it a good same-morning breakfast.
• Chop the onion for the topping as fine as you can and keep it dry, ready beside the stove.

Method

1. Drain the soaked moong and rice and grind with the whole green chillies, ginger, 1 tsp of the cumin and the salt to a smooth batter, adding water gradually.Aim for a batter a shade thinner than dosa batter — it should coat the ladle but pour freely.
2. Stir in the remaining cumin seeds whole, for texture.
3. Heat the tawa over medium-high, then rub it with half an onion dipped in oil.The onion-rub seasons the pan and stops sticking better than oil alone.
4. Lower the heat slightly, pour a ladleful in the centre and spread outward in a slow spiral to a 22cm round.
5. Scatter a generous tablespoon of chopped onion, chilli and coriander over the wet surface and press it down with the ladle.Press the topping in while the surface is still wet or it falls off when you fold the crepe.
6. Drizzle 1 tsp oil around the edge and cook 3 minutes until the base is crisp and speckled brown and the edges curl away.
7. Flip and cook 1 minute only, just to set the onion.One minute on the onion side. Longer and the topping burns while the crepe goes leathery.
8. Fold in half and serve hot with allam pachadi or a plain coconut chutney.

Storage

Eat immediately; pesarattu softens as it sits. The ground batter keeps 2 days refrigerated but the green dulls to olive — stir well and use within that window.