Pesarattu

the Andhra breakfast crêpe of whole green mung: beans soaked overnight and ground raw with ginger and green chilli into an unfermented batter, spread thin on a griddle and eaten with ginger chutney

Origin: India

From the journey of Mung Bean.

Southern India domesticated the mung bean separately from the north-west, and it works the pulse differently. Where the northern kitchen splits and hulls it into a fast yellow dal, the Telugu-speaking south grinds the whole green bean raw into a batter, skin and all, and the result is pesarattu, from pesara, green gram, and attu, a griddled cake. The distinction that matters is with the dosa, which it superficially resembles: a dosa batter is rice and urad and must ferment overnight, developing sourness and lift, whereas a pesarattu batter is mung, is not fermented at all, and can be ground and cooked within the hour of soaking finishing. It is therefore the crêpe you can decide to make, and it carries none of the tang of its cousin, tasting instead green, faintly grassy, and distinctly of the bean. It is a breakfast dish, eaten across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with allam pachadi, a fierce dark ginger chutney whose heat and sourness are the necessary counterweight. Its most celebrated form is the MLA pesarattu of Hyderabad, spread with a layer of savoury semolina upma and folded over, a dish named for the legislators of the state assembly who are said to have made it the fixture of the Assembly canteen.

Ingredients

Batter

  • 300 g whole green mung beans (sabut moong)
  • 3 tbsp raw rice or rice flour
  • 25 g fresh ginger, roughly chopped
  • 3 whole green chillies
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 pinch asafoetida
  • 1.5 tsp fine salt
  • 200 ml cold water, approximately

Topping

  • 1 whole large onion, very finely chopped
  • 2 whole green chillies, finely chopped
  • 1 handful coriander leaves, chopped

To Cook

  • 4 tbsp neutral oil or ghee, for the griddle

Method

  1. Rinse the mung beans and soak them with the raw rice in plenty of cold water for at least 6 hours or overnight. Drain thoroughly.
  2. Grind the drained beans and rice with the ginger, green chillies, cumin, and asafoetida, adding the water a little at a time, to a smooth batter about the consistency of single cream. Stir in the salt.
  3. Heat a flat griddle or heavy frying pan over a medium heat until a drop of water skitters across it. Rub it with a halved onion dipped in oil, then wipe almost dry.
  4. Pour a ladleful of batter into the centre and spread it outwards in a continuous spiral with the base of the ladle to a thin round about 20 cm across. Scatter over a generous handful of the chopped onion, green chilli, and coriander and press it lightly in.
  5. Drizzle a teaspoon of oil around the rim and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the underside is golden and the edges lift, then flip and cook for a further minute. Fold in half and serve at once with ginger chutney.

Notes

Whole green mung is essential here; split hulled moong dal gives a pale, flat crêpe without the characteristic colour or flavour. The batter must not be fermented, which is the point of difference from a dosa, and it should be used the day it is ground, since it sours and thins on standing. For MLA pesarattu, make a plain semolina upma and spread a layer over the crêpe before folding it. Some Andhra households add a handful of soaked rice for extra crispness, others none at all; the version here takes a middle course. Allam pachadi, the dark ginger and tamarind chutney, is the traditional partner and its sourness matters, though coconut chutney is common and a plain yoghurt will serve. The batter also makes excellent small thick pancakes for a child's breakfast, cooked slowly and served with ghee.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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