Chota (Guyanese Pancakes/Dosa) with Gluten Free Option

Chota or dosa (sometimes called dosay) is a sweet Guyanese pancake. Unlike American pancakes, it is not light and fluffy but it is somewhat dense, almost like a roti or flatbread. Serve this dosa recipe sweet or savory.

Guyanese Chota

Growing up in Guyana, my late grandmother Evelyn (who we called grammother) made the best chotas ever. Grammother had a way in the kitchen. She made chotas for us kids often as breakfast and sometimes for dinner. For breakfast, chotas were served with curries or stews that were mostly vegetarian. For dinner, it was served with a sliver of margarine or simply as is. Chota hot off the tawa with a piping cup of cocoa tea is a memory forever engraved on my heart.

Why You’ll Love This Chota Recipe

• Quick & Easy: Prepare chota in just 20 minutes with a few simple step-by-step instructions.
• Simple Treat: These crepe-like Guyanese pancakes are sweet, tasty, and filling.
• Versatile: Enjoy dosa for breakfast or dinner, served sweet or savory.

Chota vs Dosa

When I shared chota on Instagram, a follower messaged me to say that they had never heard dosas referred to as chota. Chota is the Hindi word for small or tiny. After much conversation, we wondered if early Indo-Guyanese called chotas, chota dosa or small dosas? Since the size of Guyanese chotas are significantly smaller than the Indian dosa this made a lot of sense.

Ingredients for Chota

Prepare chota with pantry staples you already have stocked in your kitchen.

• Cassava flour: Cassava flour is a popular alternative to wheat flour and other grain-based flours, especially for people following gluten-free or grain-free diets. It is naturally gluten-free and has a neutral taste, making it a versatile ingredient in various recipes, including this dosa recipe.
• Coconut sugar: Reduce to 1/4 cup for savory chota recipe.
• Baking powder: This helps them rise.
• Eggs: This adds moisture and binds the ingredients.
• Water: Use to create a batter.
• Oil: Use this to cook the Guyanese pancakes.

Savory option

• Cloves of garlic: Grated garlic or 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic.
• Seasoning: Season the batter with onion powder, salt, and black pepper (optional).
• Green onion: Thinly sliced.
• Wiri wiri pepper: This is optional but adds heat if you prefer your pancakes spicy.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to Make Chota

Combine Dry Ingredients and Wet Ingredients

In a mixing bowl combine the cassava flour, coconut sugar and baking powder and mix together well. Then add the eggs and water and mix to make a smooth batter. (If you are making a savory chota, now is the time to add all of the ingredients for the savory option to the batter and mix together well.)

Cook Chota on Preheated Tawa or Skillet

Bring a tawa or skillet to medium low heat and bring up to temperature. Once it’s hot, brush it with oil. Then use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to scoop chota batter and pour it onto the hot tawa or skillet.

Use the back of the measuring cup or the back of a spoon to spread the batter out in an even circular motion

Cook on medium low heat until the top of the chota is almost completely dry.

Then flip and continue to cook until golden brown. Remove from the heat and wrap them in a kitchen towel to keep warm. Repeat these steps until you’ve cooked all of the chotas.

Sweet Chotas

When grammother made sweet chotas they were unbelievably sweet. The sugar to other ingredients ratio must have been really high because I just remember how sweet these were. The batter for chota is simply flour, sugar, baking powder, and water. Mix the ingredients together to form a pancake batter consistency then cook it on a hot tawa or skillet.

These little pancake rotis were so delicious. we happily ate, dipping them in the enamel cup of tea or as a vessel to scoop up curry. The sweetness of the chota added a perfect balance to the spices in the curry. It was a match made in heaven.

Savory Chota

On occasion, grammother made a savory chota. She ground up garlic and herbs with her lorha and sill (a flat stone with a round stone that worked as a type of mortar and pestle). Then she added the herb paste to the chota batter. We ate savory chotas without any stews or curry.

I wonder if she did it this way when she simply didn’t have anything else to offer. As an adult this version of chota is my favorite. I keep my green onions whole for a bit of crunch but grind up my garlic and pepper in a mini mortar and pestle before adding to the batter.

Storage

These chotas are best if eaten fresh. I stored a few in the refrigerator overnight and they were not as great when reheated. To reheat, use the microwave. Reheating them in the tawa or skillet dries the chota out.

Tips for the Best Chotas

• I made my chotas gluten and grain free because I have a gluten sensitivity. I used cassava flour for this recipe but I will include substitutions for the traditional recipe in the notes on the recipe card below.
• When pouring the batter for chota it is important to have an even pour. So the consistency of the batter is important. You want a smooth and somewhat thick batter but not a runny batter.
• Use a spoon or the back of your measuring cup to spread the batter out for even cooking.
• When making traditional American pancakes you look for bubbles then you flip with the batter still being a bit runny. But with chota you flip it when the top is almost dry and not so runny anymore.
• Keep your heat set to medium low so that your chota gets a nice golden brown color but doesn’t burn. There is nothing worse than a burnt chota!
• Remove from the heat and place in a kitchen towel to keep them warm. Unlike pancakes these are pliable and perfect for stuffing and rolling up in a little log, similar to Indian dosas.

Frequently Asked Questions