Apple and sultana quinoa pikelets

I always love reading comments, but those left on my green ice cream post were particularly entertaining. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of you were enthusiastic about the idea, but had to smile at some of you clearly being more horrified than intrigued...but in a very polite way :-)

It's probably for the best that today's post is green-free and a little more traditional in its focus. Traditional with a twist, mind you, but traditional nonetheless.

The background to this comes from my discovery of quinoa flakes last week:

Quinoa in its standard grain form has become a normal part of my pantry, but I hadn't seen it sold as flakes before. When purchasing it, I had high hopes for using the flakes as I would oats.

Such as, for instance, mixed in with yoghurt:

Quinoa flakes, plan natural yoghurt, plum, apple

However, I had forgotten that quinoa has a slight bitter note to it, whereas oats do not. I also later discovered that quinoa flakes are best cooked before use. Thus, it probably isn't surprising that I didn't really enjoy them raw in unflavoured yoghurt!

I imagine that cooking the flakes into porridge would work much better, but I need cool mornings for porridge and there aren't any on the horizon here just yet. Quinoa flakes can also be cooked into a rice-type dish, as per the more standard quinoa preparation, but I have quinoa for that purpose already.

So. What to do with the near-full box of flakes?

The box itself included a serving suggestion / recipe for quinoa pancakes, and this led me to think of quinoa pikelets. To provide sweetness, apple and sultanas entered the equation. Fruit was something my Mum routinely added to pikelets when she made them for us as children, and I always enjoyed the contrast in texture and flavour.

I had in mind that pikelets were an English creation, and thought I might need to explain their nature to Americans. However, some brief research on the origins of pikelets turned up a few things that I didn't know. Most notably, they are actually unique to Australia and New Zealand, a discovery that took me by surprise.

Australian  pikelets are effectively a small American pancake, with similar ingredients, texture and flavour, but they typically have some sugar or sweetness added to the batter, along with raising agents, whereas pancakes may not.

In contrast, in some parts of England the term pikelet is applied to a variation of crumpets or drop scones, and English pikelets are more like those products than the small pancakes typical in Australia.

How did Australian pikelets go with the addition of quinoa flakes? Well, even better than I had hoped. I certainly don't think I'll be having any trouble finishing off the flakes...in fact, the only problem I had with this recipe was the resulting challenge of not eating all of the pikelets in one go!

Apple and sultana quinoa pikelets

Makes 16 pikelets

Vegan and low in fat

Best served warm, and most enjoyable straight after cooking; however, can be stored in an airtight container for several days

Print recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup self-raising flour (see note below regarding gluten-free alternatives)

1/4 cup quinoa flakes

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

Egg replacer to the equivalent of 1 egg, or 1 egg (I fully intended to use a chia egg here, but ended up using commercial egg replacer without thinking)

3/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)

1 medium apple, peeled and diced

1/4 cup sultanas (small raisins)

Oil spray for coating the pan

Method

Combine the flour, quinoa flakes and bicarbonate soda in a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, prepare your egg replacer or egg. Add to the dry mixture along with the milk, and stir well to combine. Mix through the diced apple and sultanas.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and drop dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the pan. I did 3 pikelets at a time. Cook until bubbles start to appear (1 - 2 minutes) and then flip and repeat, so both sides are browned. Repeat for the other pikelets.

You could serve these with jam or honey, but I loved them plain. Really, really loved them in fact - the quinoa added a depth of flavour and slight nuttiness, as is typically of the grain, whilst the apple and sultanas provided sufficient but not excessive sweetness. They were fluffy and light, but also slightly thicker than standard pikelets, I imagine due to the quinoa. 

As a final benefit? These take about 20 minutes to prepare and cook.

Which is good, because I can see myself making them on a very regular basis.

If you prefer or require gluten-free recipes, these would also be an easy product to adapt to that purpose. I'm quite keen to try them again with 1/2 cup self-raising flour and a 1/4 cup each of quinoa flakes and oats. I think using oat flour or spelt flour in place of the wheat would work well if desired, but you would need to add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp baking powder to allow them to rise.

Now, are you familiar with pikelets in the above form? Or even an alternative, English version of the product?
Have you tried quinoa flakes in any other ways?

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