Everyone loves pancakes – they are light, spongy and tasty. I regularly make these half wholegrain pancakes, but you can also try the finger millet (ragi) pancake recipe. I first tried the ragi (a super healthy grain loaded with calcium) pancakes reluctantly, wondering how the boys would react to such a different grain. But I was pleasantly surprised when they heartily tucked into them, although with a liberal dollop of chocolate sauce! The second time round, they ate them happily enough with honey. These are super easy to mix and make. You can make the dry mix ahead of time (see Handy Hint below) and get the kids to cook up a batch too!
Makes 8
Dry ingredients
1 cup (125g) atta (wholewheat flour)
1 cup (125g) maida (refined flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
2 eggs (for eggless use 6 T of milk/yoghurt/buttermilk)
1½ cups milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted, cooled butter
1 teaspoon zest of lime or orange (optional)
3-4 tablespoons water
Oil or butter for cooking
Method
1. Put the dry ingredients together first. Mix the flours (sift them, if you wish) with baking powder and baking soda. Add sugar, salt and mix well in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix the eggs, milk and butter/oil. Make a well in the dry ingredients and fold in the wet ingredients. Stir gently until well blended. You can also just put all the ingredients together and quickly blend with an electric beater.
3. Add around 3 tablespoons of water to get a dropping consistency. The batter must be thick and drop to form a round pancake – not runny, like dosa or crépe batter.
4. Heat a non-stick frying pan, put in a dab of butter or teaspoon of oil. Pour one ladle (1/3 cup) of batter to form a round pancake, around 5” in diameter. Cook on low heat until bubbles appear. Flip the pancake over and cook for a minute on the other side.
5. Serve hot with a dab of butter/pancake syrup/honey/lime juice and sugar/chocolate syrup/hazelnut chocolate spread or with fresh fruit or preserves.
Ragi Pancakes – To make ragi pancakes, you need 1 cup each of ragi (finger millet flour) and atta (wholewheat flour). Mix with 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. For the wet ingredients you need 2½ cups buttermilk, 1 egg (or 3 tablespoons thin yoghurt/buttermilk) and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or melted butter. Follow the method as in the pancake recipe.
Handy hint: You can keep ready a pancake mix with the dry ingredients in advance (double or triple the recipe if you wish), stored in an airtight container. When you want to use it, you just have to add the wet ingredients to 2 cups of dry mix. It’s a great way to save time in the morning.