Strawberry Chickpea Pancakes (And How to Make Your Own Chickpea Flour)

I know what you are thinking….CHICKPEA pancakes? Really? I know it sounds weird, but just hear me out! These pancakes are just as easy and simple as normal flour pancakes, but much healthier. Chickpea flour is a whole food that is, simply, ground up raw chickpeas. Its used in many dishes, in many different cultures. It is the main ingredient in falafel and socca, some of my favorite foods. Its cheap, full of protein and other nutrients (iron, fiber, folate), and its gluten free. Not to mention, its super easy to make at home! I like it because as someone who eats almost completely vegetarian food, I am always trying to slip plant based protein into and variety meals.

TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHICKPEA FLOUR: Rinse dry, uncooked chickpeas and let dry completely or dry with paper towels. Make sure they are completely dry! Insert the chickpeas into a high powered blender (Vitamix, Blendtech, etc) or a high powered food processor. Pulse until a fine powder forms. If it still has chunks, process for a minute or two more. Put flower through a mesh sieve or a sifter to separate out any stray bits of chickpea. Store in a dry place. One cup of whole chickpeas produces almost one and a half cups of flour.

If you don’t feel like making your own, you can buy chickpea flour for a very decent price. It is often labeled as Garbanzo bean flour and Bob’s Red Mill makes it. You can also get it at different ethnic markets. It is often called Besan or Gram flour at Indian markets. I got a huge bag for under three dollars. Ethnic markets are also a great place to buy a big bag whole raw chickpeas.

 

So if you are feeling adventurous, try mixing things up a little in the pancake department and surprise your family by telling them their pancakes are made from chickpeas!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 C. chickpea flour ( also know as besan, gram flour, or garbanzo bean flour)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 C. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 TBSP. olive oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 C. mashed bananas
• 3/4 C. strawberries, chopped into small pieces
• strawberries, butter, syrup for topping

Directions

1. Preheat a pan over medium heat or a griddle at 325 F. In a medium bowl, mix together chickpea flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. Whisk in the milk, egg, olive oil, vanilla, and mashed bananas until combined. Don’t over mix it; its ok if there are some lumps. Fold in the strawberries.

3. Grease your pan with a little butter (if using a griddle, you shouldn’t need to grease it.) Laddle 1/4 cup of batter on the pan. Repeat until you fill the pan or griddle. When air bubbles appear all over the top of the pancakes and start to pop, flip them and cook until golden on the other side.

4. Top with butter, maple syrup, and lots of fresh strawberries. To reheat leftovers, pop them in the toaster.

By Edible Experiments