It’s Pancake Day! As children my siblings and I would have a competition to see who could eat the most, my personal record was a mere 8. The pancakes I grew up on were more of a crepe rather than the thicker classic American style ones and were always served with a squirt of Jiffy lemon juice in the plastic lemon shaped bottle and a sprinkle of sugar. Shrove Tuesday was the only day of the year we had these. Apart from a brief period when I was first traveling in South East Asia and banana pancakes in the backpacker cafes were a staple food I still only eat them once a year on this day.
I usually make a vegan batter with wholemeal flour and non-dairy milk but because I am watching my weight, it was suggested yesterday that I serve a healthier alternative for dinner tonight without wheat flour or using oil to cook with. I thought of serving the savory wraps I made using besan flour but it’s not really the same, we always have sweet pancakes. So this afternoon I made time to experiment and couldn’t quite believe it when the first batter I made tasted exactly as I wanted it to. It also made loads more than I’d anticipated so it’s in the fridge chilling * until dinner time although I had planned to use an Asian pear instead of an apple in the final version.
Usually before indexing an experiment as a recipe I triple test it at the very least but I’m so thrilled with how these turned out, they are so reminiscent of the ones my mum made but so much healthier, I’m adding them right away. Made with oat flour and sweetened only with dates I’m sure I’ll be enjoying them more than once a year. They’re kind of in between a crepe and a thicker pancake so I’m calling them pancrepes.
- Wet Ingredient
- 3 dried dates, stones removed. I used medjool dates (yielding about 50grams)
- 120ml or ⅓ cup warmish water
- 1 apple, peeled and cored (about 120 grams)
- Juice from ½ a lemon (about 30ml or 2 tablespoons)
- 150ml unsweetened soy milk or other non dairy milk (approx ¾ cup)
- Dry Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon chickpea flour (about 15g)
- 135g oatmeal – processed into a flour
- To Serve
- Lemon zest
- Lemon slices or wedges for squeezing over the pancrepes.
- Soak the dates in the warmish water to soften so they blend easier. I soaked the medjool dates for about 1½ hours, harder varieties will need soaking longer.
- Add the softened dates and the soak water to a blender together with the rest of the wet ingredients and whizz until combined. Add the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Heat a non stick frying pan or skillet until very hot then reduce the heat before ladling batter into the center of the pan and quickly spreading the batter outwards with the bottom of the ladle. You don’t want to cook these too quickly. Use more or less batter to achieve desired thickness. Cook until just starting to go a golden brown. Flip the pancrepe with a spatula and press down into pan to cook the other side. Repeat with the remaining batter serving them as you cook or piling up onto a plate and covering to keep warm.
- To Serve
- Roll up the pancrepe, sprinkle with lemon zest and serve with a slice of lemon for squeezing and other toppings if desired.
Ria xx
* Post Edit: The batter needed to be thinned with additional liquid after being in the fridge, better to use immediately after making.
