Summer Chickpea Pancakes

It’s official: I’m obsessed with chickpea pancakes. Chickpea pancakes are made from chickpea flour which is essentially just ground up chickpeas and can be found at most health stores or Indian grocers. When combined with the right herbs and spices, chickpea flour makes the most amazing savoury pancakes which resemble a frittata or omelette in both taste and texture. Chickpea pancakes are also super nutritious: packed with plant protein, folate and even iron and are a fun way to get those disease-preventing beans and pulses into the diet.

I love to mix some wilted greens into my pancake batter to make it that much more nutritious and I top the finished pancakes with fresh salad and avocado to make a light summer night meal.

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For my patients on calorie-controlled meal plans:

1 x serving of this recipe (1 pancake or 1/4 of the recipe)  =

  • 1 legume/ protein serving

  • 1 veg serving

  • 1 fat serving

SERVES 4

Ingredients:

For the pancakes:

  • 1 cup chickpea flour

  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

  • 1/2 tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 tsp kala namak or black salt (this gives an egg-like flavour)

  • 1/2 tsp sea salt

  • 1 tsp dried italian herbs

  • 1 cup filtered water

  • 1 pack of pak choy or any wilting greens

  • 1 tsp sesame oil

For topping:

  • 40g fresh rocket

  • 1/2 avocado

  • 1/2 small onion

  • 150g cherry tomatoes

  • 1/4 english cucumber

Method:

1. For the pancakes: add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir together. Then add your water, a splash at a time, whilst stirring. This prevent lumps from forming in the batter. Continue adding water until the full cup has been added. By this time the consistency should be a runny batter (similar to that of a beaten egg).

2. Put your batter aside and prepare your sauteed greens. Start by roughly chopping the greens whilst you heat a teaspoon of sesame oil in non-stick pan. Add the greens to the pan and saute for about 3 minutes until just wilted.

3. Add your sauteed greens into the pancake batter and stir through.

4. Heat a small non-stick pan on medium heat and spray with a bit of olive oil or coconut oil spray. Add about 1/3 cup of the chickpea batter mixture to your pan (depending on how thick you like your pancakes).

5. Allow the pancake to cook on medium heat until bubbles begin to form in the pancake. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Then flip and cook on the other side for another 2-3 minutes.

6. For the salad topping: roughly chop your tomatoes, onion, cucumber and avocado and add it to a mixing bowl along with the rocket. Season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

3. Serve each pancake topping with a handful of salad.

Jessica KotlowitzComment