These crispy savoury crêpes with a lightly spiced lentil puree are the perfect way to upgrade your lunch without having to spend too much time in the kitchen. For the lentil spread, I’m using cooked lentils from a tin, and despite its dal-like exterior, it is perhaps closer to a Middle-Eastern spread. Or let’s just call it fusion.

The pancakes are based on Meera Sodha’s recipe for “daily dosas”, her quick take on the crispy, fermented South-Indian pancake. I have made them a little thinner to achieve crispier results and also added spirulina powder. While the latter step is optional, it does give the batter a lovely green colour, a subtle but pleasant flavour and a little extra nutritional boost to boot. Both the spread and the pancakes are good in their own right, but put the two together and you’re in for a real treat.

Ingredients for 2-3:

For the brown lentil spread:

1 can of cooked brown lentils

2 cloves of garlic

whole cumin seeds

black mustard seeds

olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed/minced

black pepper

lemon juice (about 1 tbsp)

a few drops of soy sauce

onion powder

ground paprika

chilli flakes

sea salt flakes

fresh coriander (optional)

For the green chickpea pancakes:

175 g chickpea flour

75 g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp spirulina powder

400-450 ml water

neutral oil for frying

• First make the spread:
• drain the lentils, but leave a little bit of the liquid.
• Mash everything in a mixing bowl or saucepan with a fork or potato masher to get a loose, coarse puree.
• toast cumin seeds in a dry frying pan until they are golden brown, then grind coarsely and add to the lentils.
• heat a good glug of olive oil in the same pan then add black mustard seeds.
• As soon as the seeds start to crackle and pop, stir in the crushed garlic and stir.
• Take it off the heat and pour the garlic-mustard seed oil over the puree and mix it in.
• Now season it with lemon juice, paprika, onion powder, soy sauce, and black pepper.
• To serve, put it into a serving bowl and dress with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, plenty of chilli flakes (and some fresh coriander leaves.)
• Onto the pancakes:
• Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Now gradually mix in the water, the mixture should be smooth and fairly thin. This will make it easier to swirl the batter in the pan and shape nice round pancakes.
• Heat a good flat frying pan on medium heat and add a good tsp of oil.
• When hot, add a ladle full of batter to the middle of the pan and swirl around gently to let the batter cover the surface.
• Time two minutes and then serve immediately, spread the lentil puree on the soft side of the pancake and eat right away to enjoy maximum crispiness.
• Repeat for the other pancakes.