For today's #tastytues, I had hoped to share a vegetarian Olive Oil Cake recipe with you after the internet went wild over the Washington Post's article on the French Yogurt Cake recipe. However, my oven didn't want to cooperate this weekend (not to mention some user error on my part), so I'll need to go round two on that experiment. However, I had blended a large quantity of lentils (one of my favourite foods) for the cake and needed to use up the leftovers. I often use blended lentils or chickpeas as a replacement for eggs, so I checked my freezer for some inspiration. In the back corner, I found I had ~2 cups of frozen mixed berries remaining from the autumn's harvest and decided it was time to make some breakfast for dinner. I have had this recipe on my fridge for the past month, so I let it inspire me! Here's what shook out:
Kay's I Heart Lentils Pancakes
Recipe Type: Breafast
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Yummy vegan pancakes!
Ingredients:
Lentil Paste:
Soak 1 cup of dried yellow split lentils overnight,
(or) Soak 1.5 cups of split red lentils for 10 minutes while you boil 1/2 cup of water. Once boiled, rinse lentils and add to boiled water. Turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
(or) Use 2 cups of canned, rinsed yellow lentils (but dried lentils are better since there are no strange preservatives, less packaging waste and dried lentils are WAAAY cheaper)
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup water
1 tsp of lemon juice
Pancakes:
2 cups lentil paste
1/2 tsp mace
1 + 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp oil, (I use olive, but these would be GREAT with coconut oil)
2 cups berries (I used raspberries)
Instructions:
Lentil Paste Method:
Blend rinsed lentils and salt adding the lemon juice first, and then water in drops to help blend the lentils into a paste. Makes about 2 cups.
Pancake Method:
Blend together the spices, 1 tsp of oil and the lentil paste. Heat your griddle or frying pan over medium heat (you'll want to have slightly lower heat than normal pancakes as the lentils need more time to cook). Add the remaining oil.
When your oil is heated, add the baking powder to your lentil mixture RIGHT BEFORE you start cooking. If using a smaller frying pan, consider putting your batter into the fridge if you're cooking them one at a time. Immediately begin to spoon out the batter onto your heated pan in 5 inch rounds, using the spoon to spread out the batter and help them cook.
Serve with warm berries on top*. Keep your pancakes warm in the oven until you finish cooking all of the pancakes.
•••
I think these pancakes taste great cold a day later, so keep leftovers in the fridge for an afternoon snack with peanut butter! Also, I added a drizzle of honey in a heart shape over my berries, but honey is not vegan so I haven't included it in the recipe. Drizzling it in a heart shape is required, of course. :)
