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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
5 min
15/01/2026
At the cost of sounding like a refined old Western man, quite taken with the ‘exotic’ and ‘tropical’ Indian food, did you know, pancakes exist in India too? Unlike the typical American pancakes served for breakfast, Indian pancakes exist as appetisers, mains, and desserts. Meaning, the local pancakes are either sweet (dessert) or savoury, with no in between.
Your eyebrows might have hit your hairline at the idea of Indian dishes actually fitting the mould of the pancake. Can it really happen? Yes, and no. What defines a pancake is its shape (a flat cake), made from a batter that’s poured or spread onto a hot surface (griddle, pan, tava), and then cooked on one or both sides until done. The batter is semi-thick, and it’s usually cooked on a flat, hot surface, often greased or oiled. The edges tend to be crispy and the centre soft, and it comes in sweet or savoury variations. And multiple versions of this have been cooking in Indian kitchens for centuries. Read ahead!
Appam is a fermented rice pancake from South India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu) and also Sri Lanka, made primarily with cooked rice. The batter is fermented with fermenting agents (yeast or traditional methods), and coconut milk or grated coconut. A wee bit of sugar and salt are added to it. It’s bowl-shaped, being cooked on the convex side of the kadhai or appachatti, giving the appam lacy or curling edges that are thin and slightly crispy, with a soft, spongy, and thicker centre. It’s usually served with stews (vegetable or chicken), coconut milk, and curries, and eaten for breakfast or dinner.
A Western Indian, or rather a Maharashtrian speciality, thalipeeth is a savoury pancake or rather flatbread‑pancake combo, made from a multigrain flour mix called ‘bhajanee’. The flours often include roasted grains and legumes (wheat, rice, jowar, bajra, chana, urad), plus spices. The dough is seasoned, mixed with onions or vegetables, and then shaped or flattened and cooked on a tava or griddle. It has a hearty, rustic texture with lots of flavour, and is often served with butter or ghee, curd or chutney.
Malpua is a dessert that is similar to a pancake in shape and popular in North and Eastern India; it’s also popular in Nepal and Bangladesh. The batter is made from flour (maida or wheat), sometimes semolina, thickened milk or khoya (mawa), and often flavoured with cardamom or fennel seeds. It’s fried (deep or shallow) to form fluffy or lightly crisp edges, then either soaked in sugar syrup or served with rabri (a condensed milk-based Indian dessert). Malpua has very old roots – some food historians trace it back to Vedic times, where it went by the name of ‘apupa’.
A classic and quick breakfast fix, besan chilla (or besan cheela) is made with gram flour (besan). The batter is made with the gram flour mixed with water, seasoned with salt, turmeric, and sometimes ajwain, chilli powder, and hing. Onions, green chillies, coriander, and sometimes other veggies (carrot, capsicum) are added. It’s cooked on a hot flat pan (tawa), with a little oil. The edges get crisp, but the centre stays soft when cooked over moderate heat. It’s perfect with pudina chutney, tomato ketchup, or curd.
A thick, savoury pancake from South India, this breakfast staple is made from a batter of fermented rice and urad dal (split black gram). Unlike dosa (which is thin and crisp), Uttapam is not spread out as much on the pan, and kept thicker. It is usually topped with chopped vegetables – onions, tomatoes, green chillies, and coriander, while cooking. It has a slightly tangy taste (because of the fermented batter), soft centre, and crispy edges. It tastes great on its own, but is also perfect as a light meal, paired with coconut chutney or sambar.
This is a traditional savoury pancake-like snack associated with Bollepally village in Warangal district, Telangana. It’s made with a doughy batter of rice flour, chana dal (split Bengal gram), sesame seeds, curry leaves, garlic, and ginger. Sometimes seasonal vegetables or greens might be added to the mix, too. The dough is spread or pressed in a flat vessel, sometimes like a shallow bowl or ‘pan’. It’s cooked slowly, not deep fried (though sometimes people fry it to reduce time, but that affects the taste). It has a crispy top layer and a soft inside, and it is said to have been invented when someone with limited ingredients made the best use of them.
The best-rated Indian pancake on TasteAtlas, the dosa is a South Indian pancake, thin enough to even pass off as a crepe. It is made with a fermented batter of soaked rice and black gram beans, and methi (fenugreek seeds). It is cooked on a tawa until crisp and golden and then folded or rolled, sometimes around a filling (masala dosa), or served plain with a side of coconut chutney and sambar. It’s a classic South Indian breakfast staple, and it is said to have originated in Tamil Nadu.
These aren’t pancakes wearing spices and a heap of toppings like a trend. They’re the real thing, born from ancient grains and flipped on iron tawas, a staple in every home. Served with sides and chutneys that change every 50 km, these dishes range from crowd favourites to underrated delicacies. So call these pancakes chilla, appam, thalipeeth, or sarvapindi and get going on a pancake expedition in your own kitchen.