december 26, 2019

Love me some pancakes, but not fond of the sleepy state that ensues. Carby sugar rush is a given unless there’s a hefty side or two of protein to keep me from snoozing. I think I’ll just add some high quality protein to my buttermilk pancakes with chewy bits of cooked quinoa and call that an eye opening breakfast.

Last time I wrote about pancakes, they were of the buttermilk variety with bits of cooked local bacon. Very delicious, but if you’re vegetarian or simply trying to cut down on your meat consumption, these are filling and tasty, sure to please any and all at the breakfast table. To veganize them, nut or coconut milk mixed with vinegar is a fine substitute for buttermilk, neutral oil can be used in place of melted butter and egg substitutes will give the rise necessary for fluffy cakes. This tasty breakfast may be made ahead and frozen after cooling.

Pancakes can always be made in a ceramic or cast iron skillet. If your stovetop has a griddle, or you have an electric griddle as I do, making pancakes and cleanup after is a breeze. The key to cooking them properly is to check for little bubbles on the uncooked side which tells you to make a flip, generally after two minutes.

Keeping just-made pancakes warm while the others cook can be accomplished by covering cooked ones loosely with foil or a kitchen towel in a 200 degree oven or by simply microwaving all very briefly at the end. You can also eat them as you go. Who would do such a thing?

Quinoa Pancakes

recipe by Michele Humlan, The Good Eats Company

makes about 12 pancakes

ingredients

½ cup dry quinoa *
1 ¼ cup one-for-one gluten free (or regular all purpose) flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
one large egg, room temperature
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
melted clarified butter for greasing griddle (optional)
* ½ cup dry = 1 ½ cup cooked quinoa if you use precooked from the market

directions

1. Rinse quinoa under cold water in mesh strainer unless using prerinsed quinoa.
2. In one quart saucepan, mix dry quinoa with 1 cup cold water, bring to boil, stir, then cook over low heat, covered, for 15 minutes.
3. Let rest off heat 5 minutes, then fluff with fork and cool while measuring other ingredients
4. Whisk all dry ingredients together in small mixing bowl.
5. In another mixing bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk and melted unsalted butter.
6. Combine wet with dry ingredients and add cooked quinoa; let batter rest 15-20 minutes while griddle heats.
7. Heat griddle to 350 degrees. You can also heat a cast iron or ceramic pan over medium heat.
8. Optionally, brush pancake cooking surfaces (each pancake about 2-3 inches apart) with melted clarified butter. Many griddles/cast iron skillets have nonstick or nicely seasoned surfaces so you may not need this step.
9. For each pancake, measure out ¼ cup batter onto hot griddle and use spoon to gently spread batter in circle shape.
10. Cook two minutes per side (small bubbles will form on the uncooked side, indicating time to flip).
11. Finished pancakes may be held in a 200 degree oven loosely covered until all are cooked.
12. Pancakes may be made ahead and frozen after cooling to room temperature.