Pancakes

It's Shrove Tuesday, so obviously pancakes!  I made this basic mixture and split it in two, tonight.  I added parmesan to about two-thirds of the mix and made that into two pancakes which I served with stir-fried asparagus and tomato and some garlic; then I added coconut, and some vanilla essence, to the last third and made a rather chunky dessert pancake which I had with a dab of cream cheese and some cinnamon.

Low-carb pancakes

1 oz/ 25g/ ¼ cup No 1 baking mix

1 oz/ 25g/ ¼ cup oatmeal or oatbran or gluten-free porridge oats or desiccated coconut

1 egg

3 tablespoons water

Stir dry ingredients together, beat in egg and water and leave to rest for 30 minutes.  Cook like normal pancake batter, using a little vegetable oil in a frying pan or omelette pan over a medium heat.  Serve any way you like.  I like to have these as a breakfast treat, with some fresh fruit and a dollop of low-fat cream cheese or some thick yoghurt.

The mixture doesn't flow as easily as a normal batter so you'll need to spread it out gently in the hot pan, using the back of a spoon.  You'll also probably need to cook this mixture slightly longer than a regular wheat-based batter would need.  The version with coconut makes a slightly odd-looking batter but it cooks okay and has a pleasantly crunchy texture once done, and a sweeter taste than the oaty version.  

This makes a moderately thick batter that will give you 2-3 pancakes using a 20cm/6” omelette pan.  Use less water if you want to make small north American style pancakes, or more for a thinner batter and thin crepe-style pancakes (but NB the coconut version won’t work as a crepe, I think the batter’s too bitty).

Add a dessertspoon of grated parmsan cheese for a savoury pancake; very tasty filled with grilled or fried vegetables, tuna or (for a mega-cheesy version) slices of cheddar.