I had not the slightest inkling of pancakes when the weekend finally rolled around. But I had a handful of ladyfinger bananas, bought two weeks ago and staunchly suspended in a state of just-over-ripeness – perhaps because I hid them under a light gauze throw to fend off fruitflies. I’d wanted to make muffins but am analysing all decisions for time cost at preso. We are on the countdown to a seven-week holiday… a camping road trip, which starts in a week, with all of it yet to be organised, including buying the car!! Nothing like a last minute adventure!
Anyway, the pancakes. Quicker to make than muffins, and so favoured on our busy Saturday. But I reckon these flavours would make a stellar muffin, the crumbiness offsetting the banana sweetness. (Would love to hear if anyone tries the muffin angle.) I threw in the chai as an afterthought; was jumping with beans after a stressy head-down week and excited to be cooking again. The poppy seeds added delicate crispy pings. Recipe is based on the one posted back in February, the original courteous 101 Cookbooks. This is about as healthy as a pancake gets… no sugar (but plenty sweet), loads of fibre via oatbran and LSA, and a lick of butter for the pan. Very filling, very wholesome. And quick – no resting required… great for those who’ve temporarily forgotten how. 
I tweaked Heidi’s recipe a bit (again), substituting half a cup of oatbran for some of the flour (for a bit of graininess and fibre). I also added some linseed-sunflower-almond meal for a Vitamin B and Omega 3 punch. The taste tweaks were the bananas and a small hit of Rainbow Chai tea – my personal fave. If your chai is a chunky mix, I’d recommend giving it a quick smash in a mortar and pestle. I didn’t do this (see time conundrum above), and got a couple of large un-gnashable bits of spice in my mouth.
1.5 cups plain wholemeal flour
1/2 cup oatbran
1 tbspn LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond meal)
1.5 tbspn poppy seeds
2 tsp chai tea
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine seasalt
1.5 cups milk
3-4 mashed over-ripe bananas
2 large organic eggs, lightly beaten
couple slivers of butter
Grind tea in a mortar and pestle. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mash bananas. In another bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add bananas, eggs and milk to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add spoonfuls of batter to pan and cook a couple of minutes each side, checking that bottoms don’t overbrown. Keep warm under foil and serve with yoghurt and honey – preferably on a sunny deck with proper coffee!
Serves 2-3.
Hi Sam, these look great – will have to give them a try. I recently helped out on a retreat run by some friends of mine and got to work in the kitchen with a great ayurvedic chef by the name of Stephen Galpin – it was a lot of fun. I thought I’d share his blog with you: http://ayurvedickitchen.blogspot.com/ I took heaps of photos on the retreat, many of which appear in the slide-show on Stephen’s blog.
take care
Kane
Hi Kane – thanks for sharing the link, that date and saffron halva sounds yum! Sounds like you had fun on the retreat too. Sam
Nice recipe.