Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Chickpea pancakes



There have been a lot of pancake recipes around over the past few days. Other, more organised bloggers remembered it was Shrove Tuesday yesterday and planned and pancake-d accordingly.

I'm not in that category.

These pancakes, you see, are from last week. Made with no thought of Shrove Tuesday whatsoever.

What's more, they were prompted by a sudden realisation regarding the best before date on this packet.


A 'best before' date of January 2012. Which, when discovered in February 2012, is perhaps not entirely convenient. Fortunately, it is well established that 'best before' is not the same as 'use by' and so I was determined to get at least one meal out of this before it really does pass its best.

I bought the besan flour last year after being inspired by various recipes for chickpea flour crackers and chickpea flour pancakes (also known as pudla). Most of these recipes are firmly in the savoury category, often with vegetables or spices included in the mixture. Last week I wanted something plainer, more like a regular pancake base, and so those bookmarked savoury recipes remain bookmarked for another day.

You see, I grew up with the tradition of having dessert pancakes for dinner once or twice a year. This was often a holiday treat, or done on a weekend when we'd already had a substantial lunch. I was in the mood for this last week, and wanted my chickpea pancakes to provide a blank canvas for whatever fillings I came up with, sweet or savoury.

In the end, this super easy recipe from Food and Wine provided my base. I effectively just halved their recipe and omitted the pepper, to give 1 cup besan flour, 1 cup + 2 tbsp water, and a pinch of salt. I used spray oil to coat the frying pan rather than adding oil to the mixture. These quantities gave three large pancakes.


I find pancakes surprisingly filling, so started off with two of the three. 


The first two were flavoured with tahini and plain nonfat yoghurt (my nod to a savoury filling), and maple syrup. Both were enjoyable, and the tahini / yoghurt one particularly so.


It turns out, though, that chickpea pancakes are deceptively light. Or at least, they were to me.



After the first two pancakes, I felt hungry enough to finish the third one with strawberry jam. About 15 minutes after the third one, though, I realised that perhaps two would have been just fine. These definitely have the traditional pancake trick of expanding after they are in one's stomach!

Looking at the nutritional information for besan gave me some insight into this experience. Although besan flour and plain flour are similar in terms of overall energy (about 380 calories per 100g), besan flour has twice as much protein: approximately 22g per 100g vs. 11g per 100g in plain flour.

Fullness and nutritional information aside, I was really happy with these. They are not traditional pancakes and I can see that they would be better suited to savoury flavourings - I will definitely be trying that in the future. They have a slight earthy taste, with a depth of flavour that defies the short ingredient list, and would also pair well with soup or stews.

All in all, I'm glad I got to the flour before it truly was past its best!

Have you experimented with besan flour?

18 comments:

  1. Hi Kari,
    I have tried besan flour - made something that Lisa from BBB made and used it to thicken my vegan tofu slice I did a while back. Those pancakes look delicious and I'll have to give them a shot!

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    1. Ah, I missed that you used besan in the tofu slice. I imagine that would work very well!

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  2. No seriously we need to stop. I've never liked pancakes because they always feel like I've just eaten a doona. THIS TWILIGHT ZONE THING IS SCARY.

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    1. But at least we differ on peanut butter (or at least, how much of it we can eat at once) :) And chocolate truffles. But that really is funny...and the doona analogy is exactly right!

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks Lisa...I'm really pleased to have finally ventured into using it!

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  4. I've only ever used besan flour in savory pancakes, but it makes great savory ones - this Ginger Mint and Culantro Besan Pancakes recipe is a brunch favourite! I have even made my own besan occasionally, from home grown beans. Not as difficult or extreme as it sounds.

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    1. Savoury are definitely on my 'to try' list. I like the ginger mint idea!

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  5. These look great - I love chickpea flour - have made pudla with lots of peas and spices but never just made very plain chickpea pancakes - must try it.

    Can also recommend chickpea flour in brownies if you want some gf brownies - worked amazingly well. And my mum has made chickpea chips with besan but I am yet to try this (allotment to kitchen blog has a version of this I think)

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    1. Your peas and spice pudla are bookmarked :) Next time! Thanks for the gf flour idea too, I am such a novice with gf options so it's good to know this could work.

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  6. Do I sound terrible when I admit I've not even heard of besan flour before? But they look like fantastic fluffy pancakes, might be worth a try.

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    1. Not at all, because neither had I before last year :) It is a fun twist on the original pancake option - I hope you enjoy it if you find some besan.

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  7. Shrove Tuesday?
    I don't know what that is.. so I didn't notice. :) It was, "Fat Tuesday" in the US- not sure if that is the same thing?

    Those pancakes look excellent.. really thin and perfect! I always mess up the flipping of regular pancakes, so I have not even attempted thin ones.

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    1. Yes, the same thing :) Apparently it goes by lots of names, and sometimes even just 'pancake Tuesday' to simplify things entirely!

      I'm actually terrible at flipping pancakes myself. I can only do it with the aid of large spatulas or similar. No tossing in the air for me!

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  8. Your pancakes look fantastic! Besan flour is such wonderful stuff. I used to only keep it in the pantry for Indian dishes and now I seem to use it in so many different ways.

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    1. Thank you Mel! I think I'm definitely a convert now - I'm looking forward to trying it out in different ways too.

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  9. oh I LOVE this idea! these look great!

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