Cheele ki sabzi or Besan ke Cheele ki sabzi, a finger licking good curry made with savory chickpeas crepes or Besan Cheela. Its naturally glutenfree, Low GI and vegan curry recipe. Since it is made with chickpeas flour it is suitable for Diabetics as Well.
Cheele ki sabzi or Chilade ki sabzi is punjabi style light brothy curry, that is made with Cheela which is a savoury Indian crepe made with besan/gram flour.
With wifi and good connectivity available, I am planning to write some more travel posts from my experience only if time permits :). But before that let me write something which I have started recently the traditional Monday Recipe from my Mum's Kitchen/My grandma's Kitchen.
Today's recipe is chilade ki sabzi or popularly known as chile ki sabzi. What is popularly known as Chila in India was known as chilada Multani cuisine. Cheela, also known as vegetarian omelet by some is one of my favorite breakfast { Here is Moong dal Cheela recipe with some stuffing ideas } on my blog.
The cheela sabzi is cooked using these delicious chickpeas flour pancakes in basic Punjabi style tomato onion thin gravy and taste best with parantha or even plain steamed basmati rice.
Much as we like to believe that in old times the food was organic and pure , there was the scarcity of fresh produce. It was available in season but in summer's when there was hardly any scope for growing fresh veggies and fruits due to fewer irrigation facilities and dependence on rains our grandmother's had some recipes up their sleeves which really do not require much of fresh produce except essentials. Yes ! Grandma's are always so resourceful 🙂
So this chilade ki sabzi or Cheele ki sabzi is also one of those recipes which are passed onto my mom by her mom AKA my Nani (maternal grandma). The other day when I was at my Mom's place I requested her to make this childhood favorite with crispy and fresh paratha's and as usual, it was so tasty that I overate 😀 and you should have seen the joy on her face it was priceless. I don't know why mothers are so happy overfeeding the children even if they are in their 40's 😀 😀 and struggling with a weight problem on top of that, but it definetly feels good 🙂 No not the overeating but getting fussed over and extra pampering Doesn't it !
Coming back to cheele ki sabzi, it is made with chickpeas flour which is gluten free too. If you eat gluten free you already are aware of that but if you are looking to switch to gluten-free lifestyle due to allergy or other reasons chickpeas flour should be must have item in your kitchen.
This recipe of Cheele ki sabji is so good and comes handy especially on a day when there is not much fresh produce at home. So basically an Indian curry which is tasty and healthy. If you like spicy food cheele ki sabzi has the potential to be one of your favorites.
Some of the popular chickpeas or chickpeas flour dishes on my blog are
- Gatte ki sabji
- Punjabi Pakoda Kadhi
- Kala chana curry
- Amritsari choley
- Chickpeas and Vegetable Tahri Recipe
For this chilade ki sabzi, first of all, you need to make cheela / chilada or what is popularly known as savory gram flour pancake. You van use lefover cheela if you have any but if you are making fresh just for this curry I advise you to make it little thick, atleast ½ inch in thickness that tastes much better and even looks better too. After you cook these cheela you proceed to make thin punjabi style gravy which is absorbed by these fluffy cheelas making them more flavourful and tasty. In some parts of pakistan it is also called besan ke gutte ki sabzi.
Healthy Byte about Chickpeas
Chickpeas flour is gluten free and is great source of fiber, proteins and other micronutrients such as iron, vitamins , magnesium and potassium etc.
So if you are looking for a light brothy curry and especially on a day when there is not much fresh produce at home and still want to cook an Indian curry which is tasty and healthy this cheele ki sabzi has the potential to be one of your favorites.
📖 Recipe

Ingredients
For Making Cheela
- 1 cup Chickpea Flour (Gram flour/Garbanzo beans flour/Besan) :
- 1 tablespoon yogurt :
- to taste salt :
- 1 teaspoon chili powder Red
- as needed water to make a thin paste
For Gravy
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3 Tomatoes medium size
- 1 onion small chopped
- 1 green chilli chopped
- 1 red chilli tspskashmiri powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric Powder
- to taste salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbs coriander leaves - chopped
Instructions
For Making Cheela
- Mix all the ingredients for making cheela except the oil, add enough water to make a normal consistency batter so that there are no lumps in the batter
- Heat a non-stick griddle/tava or pan pour ladle full of batter and spread it in rounds with the back of a ladle in the circular motion. Keep it at least ½ inch thick.
- Apply little oil around the corner and cook for 2 mins, flip it and cook for 2 minutes on the other side as well.
- Likewise, make all the cheela to consume the whole batter and keep them aside till you are making gravy for it.
For Making Gravy
- Heat ghee in the pan and add cumin seeds. When cumin starts to splutter, add chopped onion and green chilli.
- When onion starts turning light pink or translucent add salt, red chili powder and turmeric powder along with 2 tablespoon of water.
- Immediately add finally chopped tomatoes and cook for 6-7 minutes on medium heat till they are pulpy.
- Add about 500ml of water and let this gravy come to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- when the gravy is simmering, cut those cheela into small squares about an inch is good.
- Now add these cut cheela pieces into the gravy and switch off the heat. Finish with a sprinkle of coriander/cilantro leaves and serve hot with your choice of flatbread or steamed rice. Either way taste soooo good.
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