Pesarattu Recipe | Green Moong Dal Dosa

Pesarattu is a traditional South Indian dosa recipe prepared using green moong dal (mung beans). This dosa is crispy, easy to make, and protein-rich. Serve pesarattu with chutney and sambar. No fermentation or rice is used to make this dosa batter.

Also, check out traditional South Indian breakfast recipes and different types of chutney to serve with dosa.

Moong dal dosa

Pesara means green gram in Telugu, and attu means dosa or pancake. Pesarattu, also known as crispy moong dal dosa, green gram dal dosa, green dosa, moong dal chilla, pesara attu, pesara dosa (mung bean dosa), or cheeldo. It is a thin breakfast crepe prepared using sabut (whole) green moong dal, ginger, green chilies, and cumin seeds. This Indian dosa is vegan and gluten-free.  

With no rice, onion, or garlic, this dosa is one of the best Indian recipes -for fasting days. Pesarattu dosa is also diabetic-friendly, high in protein, and good for a weight loss diet.

Pesarattu is served with upma, South Indian sambar, or chutney, which includes ginger, tamarind, peanut, etc. You can check interesting south indian chutney recipes.

Ingredients

To make pesarattu, you will need
Green moong dal: green gram or whole green mung beans. Check out this post on Indian dal.

For flavor: Ginger, green chilies, cumin and salt.

Check out the recipe card for the full list of the ingredients.

Making of pesarattu batter

• Add moong dal to a bowl and wash it in water two to three times. Drain and soak the moong dal in water for 4 to 6 hours
• In a blender jar, add soaked and drained moong dal, ginger, green chiles, cumin seeds, salt, and half a cup of water, and blend to a smooth paste.
• Transfer the batter to a bowl. Clean the blender with an additional ¼ to ½ cup of water and add it to the batter. Check for consistency.

Cooking crispy pesarattu dosa

• Heat the dosa pan on medium flame. Once hot, spread a ladle full of batter in a circular motion. Drizzle oil. When the dosa is cooked and becomes crispy on one side, flip and cook on the other side for one more minute.
• Repeat the process for the remaining batter.
• Serve pesarattu dosa with chutney, sambar, and upma, and enjoy.

Pro Tips

• Soak moong dal for 4 to 6 hours.
• Grind moong dal along with spices to form a thick batter. The amount of water you add will decide how your dosa turns out. Adding too much water will make dosa tasteless and difficult to cook crispy dosas. The batter should be medium thick with a spreadable consistency.
• Cook on medium to medium-high flame to get crispy dosas. Do not cook the dosa on high flame as it will develop a brown color too quickly, and the dosa will taste undercooked.
• After cooking the first dosa, wipe the pan with a clean kitchen towel to spread the next dosa easily.
• If you add too much water, add rice flour to adjust the batter consistency.
• You can soak it and add 2 tablespoon of rice while grinding or rice flour directly to the batter to get a restaurant-style crispy pesarattu.

How to serve pesarattu dosa?

• Pesarattu dosa can be topped with onions, green chilies, and coriander leaves and served.
• The best combination with pesarattu dosa is chutney and sambar. Some chutneys for pesarattu include ginger, coconut, or allam pachadi.
• You can also serve with podi or gunpowder.
• Pesaratuu can be stuffed with potato masala or upma.

Recipe FAQs

More dosa recipes

Recipe card

Note: We originally posted this crispy pesarattu recipe in June 2022. It has now been modified in Sep 2024 with Expert Chef Tips, FAQs, Storage Instructions, etc.

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