yummy vegan blueberry and banana pancakes

Spending a lot of my time in California has meant I’ve come face to face with the short stack a number of times, though where I come from what we call “pancakes” are more like crepes – thin and large and absolutely flippable. I had never made American pancakes before, so I gave it a go, using, of course, a vamped up recipe (from How it All Vegan!, which is fast becoming my favourite recipe book).

The ingredients are, as ever, great, delicious, and a healthier version of the alternative, and the end result is really lovely. However, a word of caution – often healthier versions of traditional recipes need a little more TLC and attention, and I would say that was definitely true in this case.

After much experimenting the amoeba-like (as Austin called it) pancake above (the Pancake of Victory) was pretty much the only specimen I managed to create fully intact. While the ones that crumbled were no less delicious, for a continuous piece of pancake I would suggest thefollowing: make sure your frying pan is already pretty hot before cooking; once you’ve poured out the batter, lower the heat and cook it slowly so that it has a chance to cook all the way through; don’t attempt to move the pancake until the side you can see is visibly less liquidy, and the centre has also made some air bubbles – when it’s time to flip it, the underside should not stick to the pan, it should be easily moved. This slower technique creates more pancake-like pancakes.

ingredients:

1 cup (100g) flour
1 banana, mashed
2 tsp baking powder
1+1/4 cups (265ml) soy milk
1 tbsp sweetener (I used orange juice)
blueberries

In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together. In a small bowl, mash the banana with a fork and add 1/4 cup of the milk, mixing together until there are no lumps. Add the banana, sweetener, and remaining milk to the dry mix and stir together until “just mixed”. Portion out about 3/4 to 1 cup of batter onto a hot non-stick pan or a lightly greased frying pan. Let sit on medium-low heat until the centre starts to bubble and become sturdy. Flip pancake over and cook other side until golden brown. Repeat process until all the batter is gone. Makes 2 or more servings.

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