I made buckwheat crepes for dinner last night, finally, and though Noor said quite frankly that she did not like them too much( I am hoping that she might take to them gradually, especially as yesterday she was quite full from her gouter and not inclined to enjoy her dinner anyway), Shri really liked them, and Indira said “I completely love them !” . In fact, after she tasted the first one as it came off the crepe pan, she declared it exactly the same in taste as the ones we ate in Valberg recently, bless her heart.
They turned out quite nice, except that the ones I have eaten in restaurants here are sometimes crisper. So I need to figure that one out still.
Once again, a really simple, quick dish to make. We had these with soup and potato-feta cheese pancakes.
These savory crepes are called galettes in France to distinguish them from the sort of crepes that are eaten with sweet fillings. And sarassin, or ble noir, is buckwheat flour. Buckwheat, as I wrote here is not actually any kind of cereal. It is a broadleaf plant that is a very good source of protein and iron. It is also used to make the variety of noodles called soba in Japan.
Galettes des Sarrasin, or Buckwheat Crepes
250 gms of buckwheat flour, with 1 tsp of salt mixed in (this quantity should be enough for at least 6 people)
250 ml of milk ( either whole cream or half-fat)
500 ml of water
1 egg, lightly beaten
Combine the water and the milk. In a mixing bowl, stir in half the milk and water, and the egg, in to the flour till the batter is quite smooth. Add the rest of the milk and water, and mix till well combined.
Ideally, leave the batter to rest for 60 minutes.
Heat a medium-sized crepe pan till it is very hot. Put a little knob of butter on the pan, and quickly spread it over the surface of the pan with a kitchen towel. Now lift the pan off the heat, pour about 1/2 a small cup of batter on to the pan, and quickly bend and turn the pan every which way till the batter covers the entire surface of the pan. Put the pan back on the hob, and cook till the top of the crepe dries and the edges start to go quite brown/crispy and start to lift a little off the pan’s surface. Flip the crepe over with a spatula, and cook the other side for 1/2 a minute or so, lifting every few seconds towards the end to check if it is done.
Repeat the process for the rest of the crepes. Any extra batter will keep in the fridge.
Spread a little beurre de bretagne (or any other salted butter) on the crepe, then fold it over twice to form a triangle. You could also eat these crepes/galettes with any savory filling such as ratatouille, diced/slices of smoked chicken or ham, sliced tomato and cheese (grated emmenthal or slices of mozarella) etc.
Eat them while they are still quite hot, if you can. They taste best that way, IMO.
An Indian Kitchen in France 
I thought buckwheat is ‘kuttoo’- remember the greyish ata had during fasting- since it’s not considered as grain ? During navratri my dadi and mom used to make kuttoo ke cheele and this reminded me of those. That was not made with milk however.
hey there !
you know kuttu ka atta is – or was – until this moment- almost an unknown to me, since my folks are the aryasamaji/non-vrat types. so ghar mein kabhi dekha nahin.
but yes when i read your comment about it that rang a very strong bell, have heard from other friends about it. i just did a google search and that’s exactly right – it is the same as buckwheat flour.
and there are loads of Indian recipes out there with kottu ka atta – so this will now start me off in a whole new direction, with kottu ke pakore for instance 🙂
so please do write – how does one make the cheele? anything else that you make with it?
I could not help imagining my dadi’s horror if I told her sathvik cheele are eaten with ham else where in the world !!
Kutto ki pakori were another thing they used to make – same way as besan pakoris with aloo slices. Kuttu ka parantha is another vrat wala thingy. Just knead it like regular atta-We used to eat it with lokki ki subji. so 3 things essentially- pakore, cheele and parantha.
I’ve actually pisoed chakki pe kuttu ka atta when growin up- ghar pe-we had a big chakki about 16 inches in diameter there were times when there was lot of adulteration in the kutto atta with matti so we used to make our own.
yes, I can quite imagine your Dadi or your Ma’s horror at the thought of kuttu cheelas with ham (and even a fried egg on top of that, sometimes!!)
okay i shall make the pakoras very soon, sounds very good
but after this weekend, when we have a belated birthday party for Noor so the focus of this week’s planning/coooking will be on that.
but the paranthas will be on the lunch menu for tomorrow.
shall let you know how they work out. thanks !
Sorry- forgot to answer your question-
The cheeles are made just like the besan cheelas- mix with water until it’s the dosa spreading consistency-then seko with 2,3 tsp oil.
okay, i’ll try both at lunch tomorrow
I just remembered the parantha ka atta is kneaded with some boiled potato- just enough to hold the atta together , it is somewhat challenging. Add water very slowly and in small quantities.
Hi there, Chadna! It’s been a while since I visited your blog but thanks for the recipe for Crepes…I love crepes…I love french food on a whole!