Savoury pancakes with mushrooms and onions

Who doesn't like mildly sweet spongy pancakes all dripping with maple syrup? There weren't many pancake-serving places in Mumbai earlier so my first brunch with a stack o' pancakes was in at the IHOP in Rochester, NY. My favourite being the multigrain pancakes, which had the grainy bits within and a choice of syrups with a bit of sweetened cream on the side...US is a place of indulgences, including pancakes. Crepe Station at Bandra in Bombay is one of our favourite breakfast destinations for the weekends. They serve wonderful omelettes, pancakes, waffles and nowadays its raining strawberries in their menu. But unfortunately they don't serve stacks of pancakes :)

When I do them at home, I like to keep them light, texture-wise as well as calorie-wise. I had shared with you my eggless version of sweet pancakes a while ago. But not everyone like sweet stuff for breakfast. These low fat, high fibre pancakes are the best for such people. No eggs, no butter, these pancakes can be a dieter's delight. The buttermilk makes them fluffy and the finely chopped mushrooms & onions give them a great texture, adding to the nutritional value as well.

Savoury pancakes with mushrooms and onions
Category: Breakfast, low-fat, diabetic recipes
Time taken: Under 30 minutes
Makes around 8 pancakes of 3" diameter
Source: My own recipe

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ingredients
1 cup gram flour
2 tbsp chick pea flour or soy flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp finely chopped button mushrooms
3 tbsp finely chopped red onion
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

3/4 cup yogurt / thick buttermilk
water to get desired consistency
1 tbsp light cooking oil

Oil to cook pancakes

special equipment
a pancake griddle with spatula or a large non stick pan

directions

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well and add the wet ingredients with the tbsp of oil. Stir to blend well. Add a little more water if necessary to get a thick pouring consistency.
Cover this batter and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

Grease a pancake griddle / non-stick pan. Pour a ladleful of batter very slowly onto the medium hot griddle. (If the batter spreads out very quickly into a thin layer, that means the consistency of the batter needs to made thicker with some more flour.)

Make as many pancakes as your pan will accomodate. Drizzle a spoonful of cooking oil around the edges of the pan.

As you start seeing bubbles on the sides of each pancake, give them 30 more seconds and they are ready to be turned over. Do not press them down, let them fluff up as they cook. Give the second side under a minute over a medium flame, drizzling some oil if necessary. The pancakes must be fluffy and golden brown on both sides when done.

Serve hot with coriander chutney mixed in a cupful of yogurt. These also taste great with orange marmalade.

Note

I used a high protein gram flour provided by my nutritionist, this is a mixture of gram flour and black chick pea flour. This is rich is proteins and has a low glycemic index that keeps you filled up for longer. This flour is also excellent for diabetics.

You can also try using grated carrots and zucchini in these pancakes but take care to adjust the water added to keep the consistency of batter right.

Why these pancakes are healthy

Uses a high fibre flour as against all purpose flour
No sugar
Low fat as there is no butter or egg in the batter
These pancakes can be had with a variety of chutneys as against maple syrup or honey

This is my submission to Meeta's Monthly Mingle - Savoury cakes
Pancakes are 'cakes' after all! Trust she'll like them!


Other pancakes served at Saffron Trail

Eggless breakfast pancakes
4 lentil pancakes
Healthy date pancakes
Mango pancakes

This is one pancake I want to indulge in soon. One of the best I have come across - Ginger bread pancakes at Home Sick Texan.

Tags: Breakfast, eggless pancakes, savoury pancakes, mushroom, low fat pancakes, pancakes, healthy pancakes