First, soak the samak rice in water for 1 hour.

After an hour, pour the rice and water into a large strainer. Place the strainer over a pot or hold it under running water, rubbing the rice gently with your hand to wash it. Let the rice drain in the strainer for a bit while you get out your blender jar. Peel the ginger, wash the ginger and green chili, and cut them into two pieces each. Since you’ll add water while grinding, you don’t need to drain the rice for long. Add the rice, ginger, and green chili to the blender. First, blend without water, then add water as needed and blend to a batter.

After blending, add the amaranth flour and blend again for a short time.

Transfer the batter to a large bowl. Peel and grate the potato, then place it in a large strainer and rinse well. Squeeze out excess water with your hand and add the potato to the bowl. Wash and grate the carrot and add it as well. Add salt and black pepper powder, and mix well. Add chopped cilantro. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a small pan, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and curry leaves, and let them crackle. Pour this tempering into the batter and mix.

Wash and dry a nonstick pan with four or more cavities (like an uttapam pan). Add a drop of oil to each cavity and spread with a brush to coat. Heat the pan. When slightly hot, add a little batter to each cavity (about 2 tablespoons per cavity) and spread. Cook on low heat. When the top looks dry, drizzle a little oil over each cheela.

After about 2 minutes, flip each cheela. The bottom should be lightly golden. After flipping, add a few drops of oil around the edges. If you see any white spots due to less oil, add a little oil there. Cook until the other side is also lightly golden. If the first side isn’t golden enough after flipping, flip again and cook a bit more.

Remove the cheelas to a plate. For the next batch, add only 2-3 drops of oil to each cavity and don’t use a brush, as plastic or rubber shouldn’t be used on hot pans.

Make cheelas with all the batter. Serve with yogurt, not chutney. Mix black salt, roasted cumin powder, and, if you like, black pepper powder into the yogurt and serve alongside.

For chaat-style serving, let the cheelas cool, then cut into small pieces. Top with yogurt, black salt, roasted cumin powder, grated carrot, beetroot, chopped cilantro, black pepper powder (optional), and roasted peanuts. You can also add pomegranate seeds if you like.

Note: If you’re not making this for fasting, you can add more ingredients to the chaat, or if making for family members who aren’t fasting, add all the usual tikki chaat toppings.