OAT, APPLE AND BUCKWHEAT PIKELETS

When I was down in Augusta recently,  I was reminded of the power of the pancake – or really, as I like to make them, a pikelet (a fatter and smaller version of the said pancake). Brendan made the most spectacular, enormous light and fluffy pancakes I’ve ever seen and served them on the deck (amidst the pink jasmine blossom) with a delicious cinnamon apple sauce, toasted nuts and seeds, honey or maple syrup,  home made peach jam and yoghurt. This is a set Sunday breakfast at 8am. I want to be there every Sunday at 8am !!! And it reminded me just what a great breakfast (and indeed snack) a good pikelet can be, especially at this time of the year as the weather warms. Porridge can become a bit heavy and boring, and really a good wholegrain pikelet is just a porridge in another, albeit lighter, form.

I’m a big fan of soaking grains for porridge (lot’s of recipes for these in my books) as this makes them more digestible. Phytic Acid is broken down (ensuring that you do indeed absorb all those wonderful minerals in whole grains), as are enzyme inhibitors and in the gluten grains, gluten. Soaking a grain really makes it so much more digestible and most people notice an enormous difference in how they digest it. You can take this concept of  soaking on to include all wholegrain flours – now when it comes to cakes and cookies, I’m not much of a fan. I’m not a purist and it will often result in heavy end results. But, when it comes to pikelets or pancakes, it’s truly such a easy and wonderful thing to do. You’ll notice a little salt in the soaking recipe – I use this when soaking a flour – with so much endosperm (and thus starch and thus, sugar) available, salt just helps to slow it all down, a little control factor. I really prefer to add something lacto – fermented like

whey, yoghurt or kefir – it really helps to bump up the said lacto – fermentation.

I prefer to cook these babies in coconut oil – a great oil for heating, and it makes the edges so deliciously crispy, but you also use ghee or butter, or a combination. A word about cooking  – make sure your pan is hot, but never so hot that the coconut oil is  rippling or smoking. The batter should sizzle as it hits the oil, and should take 3 or so minutes until it is ready to turn. The pikelets will most likely have absorbed the oil (this is fine), and you can see in picture below, the the edges have ‘dried’ out so to speak, and there are lots of little holes. Now is the time to turn them. If the pan is too hot, they will cook on the outside, before the inside is cooked. If you’d like to add a little more oil (1 teaspoon at the most) after you’ve turned them you can, otherwise don’t worry.

As we are only just coming into spring (thus very little fresh fruit around), I used apples for the fruit and to make a simple apple sauce I just peeled and chopped 3 apples into my favourite Reiss enamel pan, with 1 tablespoon rapadura sugar, a touch of cinnamon and 1/4 cup water. Cover and let cook very slowly for 15 – 20 minutes, stirring often and breaking down the apples. When cooked, I grated in a little lemon zest. But now that strawberries are on their way (how exciting is this !!), I’d most likely make a simple poached strawberry number  (in both Coming Home to Eat, and Wholefood for Children) and use a banana to mash into the pancake instead of the apple.

Yoghurt, Cultured Cream (Wholefood for Children) and Cream Fraiche, all are wonderful options for serving as they add more good bugs to help with the digestion. The Cultured Dried Apricot and Fig Puree from Wholefood for Children is another excellent lacto -fermented option and dairy free.

Don’t worry too much if you see an oily residue on the plate where they’ve been – this is the coconut oil. They won’t taste too oily, only delicious with crunchy edges – just take care not to let your oil smoke when you are cooking them. And leftovers? Brilliant heated up for breakfast the next day, or for a lunchbox snack. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I’ll see you at your place around 8am Sunday?

OAT AND APPLE PIKLETS OR PANCAKES

Wheat Free, Low Gluten. Can be dairy free.

Makes 10 medium – large pikelets

In Australia, Four Leaf makes a great Oat Meal. If you cannot find oatmeal, grind up some rolled oats into a meal, and then measure the amount from this – you may need to add a little extra milk (1 tablespoon is plenty) to the batter the next morning as the rolled oats absorb a bit more liquid.

If you’d like to make these a little softer for rolling (like a pancake)  add a little more milk or egg. They can also be topped with berries or other fruits as desired.

½ cup oat meal

½ cup buckwheat flour

tiny pinch sea salt

1 cup milk or ½ cup coconut milk and ½ cup rice milk

2 teaspoons whey, yoghurt or kefir

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon rapadura sugar

1 tablespoon melted butter, ghee or coconut oil

1 – 2 small apples 170gm approx/ peeled and grated

¾ teaspoon baking powder

ghee, butter or coconut oil for frying

SOAKED:

Add the oat meal, buckwheat flour, salt, milks and whey to a small bowl – stir together well. Cover and leave on the bench (or in the fridge) to stand overnight.

The next morning add the cinnamon, sugar, melted fat of choice, and grated apple. Sift in the baking powder and gently stir together.

Gently heat enough ghee, butter or coconut oil to coat the base of a frypan. Add 1 tablespoon (or more as desired) of the mixture to the pan. Cook well on one side for 2 – 3  minutes and is golden – you should also see small bubbles appearing in the batter – before turning it over. Cook on the other side for 1minute approx.

UNSOAKED – OMIT THE SALT

Combine the flours, cinnamon, sugar and sifted baking powder in a bowl – whisk through to mix. Add the grated apple, milk and fat of choice, mix together well before cooking.

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