Easy Healthy Pancake Recipe With Hemp

Although pancakes are often associated with the traditional Christian holiday, Shrove Tuesday, that doesn’t stop you from enjoying them any time of the year! The great thing about making pancakes is that the ingredients are commonly found in everyone’s kitchen cupboards,

Pancakes are such a forgiving recipe that it’s quite easy to substitute ingredients with vegan alternatives, such as using vegan milk and trading the egg for 2 tbsp of chickpea water. You can change your flour too. For example, try buckwheat (great for gluten-free), spelt, or plain flour or use hemp flour if you want to make them green.

The pancake (a.k.a drop-scone/ crepe/ griddle-cake) is a basic term for a flat cake cooked on a hot surface. Commonly constructed with a loose batter containing flour, milk and egg - the variables (twists) are endless. The hemp version in this recipe uses protein powder (both good for you and the pancake) mixed with coconut flour and cornmeal, creating a light but sturdy breakfast/ brunch/ snack/ treat.

What you will need for 4 hemp protein pancakes

Ingredients

•         100g coconut flour*.
•         20g hemp protein powder.
•         20g cornmeal.
•         Pinch of salt.
•         1 tbsp sugar.
•         ½ tsp of baking powder.
•         ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda.
•         1 small egg
•         150ml buttermilk.
•         150ml milk.
•         1 ripe banana. (any kind)**.
•         Some blueberries**.
•         2 tbsp of (infused) Hemp oil (or melted butter).

*Can easily be switched for 120g of the plain sort if you’re looking for something a little more straight-up.

**Blueberries and bananas are always good pancake partners – but not essential.

Equipment

•         Bowl
•         Whisk/ or fork
•         Ladle
•         Frying pan
•         Spatula
•          KLIP: To go full coconut, use jaggery, a kind of crystallised coconut sugar-sap from India, that can be found in most exotic food shops. The rock-like look can be transformed into fluffy sugar with a little cutting through the KLIP. Mix with cinnamon for a nice sweet spice.

Preparation:

The preparation time is approximately 15 minutes and involves mixing the ingredients together, although this can be done in advance and set aside until you are ready to cook.

First, mash together your ripe banana and egg in a bowl. To this mix add 1 tbsp oil, followed by the buttermilk and milk and mix together. Add flour, protein powder, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and whisk all the ingredients together until you have a smooth and lump-free batter.

Heat some (infused) hemp oil or grease in a frying pan, but not too much!  Make sure you get the pan hot before pouring one ladle worth of the batter into the frying pan. It’s a good idea to swirl the batter around the pan to evenly distribute the mix. Top with a few blueberries.

Cook for about three minutes (until the topside starts to lose its shine) then, using a spatula, flip the pancake over and cook for a further minute or two. Serve straight away with syrup, or KLIP sugar.

Finally, your last decision is what to put on your pancake!  Do you go sweet or savoury?  

Author: Lotte