Polish Tastes # 001 - Pancakes, because its Friday

It's been a long time since I wrote something here. Many things have changed as well as our taste buds.

But one thing is the same - we [myself and my husband J] still love food and this is what this diary is about. 

Our dishes are mostly plant based now, but I may include, every now and again, some animal products here. I will also try to focus on Polish dishes, as many of my friends want to learn how to cook them.

It is Friday today and Fridays are no-meat days in Poland. Yes, it is a thing, or it used to be when I was still there and many people still follow this rule. That is why I decided to re-start this blog with pancakes. 

Such a simple dish, right? It mostly is, but I have been doing them for years and sometimes they look and taste great and sometimes just good. Sadly this is the case with most of my dishes, as I am an instant cook and often use leftovers in my cooking. Hardly ever I am able to repeat the dish exactly. So I decided to start making a diary of the dishes I want to repeat over and over again. 

With perfect pancakes the main challenge for myself was to get that shine and slight stretch I like. As we both mostly don't eat too much of animal products, the plant based version was a bit tricky to get due to no egg content. 

But there is a solution to this - aquafaba. Many people heard of it, but some still have not. 

And for the who have not heard of it aquafaba is the name for the water in which chickpeas or any other pulses has been cooked or stored. The one you drain after opening a tin or a jar of chickpeas. It behaves almost like egg whites, so cakes, pasta dough, mayonnaise can benefit from adding it, or even the vegan version of meringue can be whipped successfully.  

So without further ado here is my pancake recipe which is worth posting and remembering.

What do you need? :

makes 10-12 pancakes of 16cm [about 6 inches] in diameter

100 ml auqafaba [if you have less auqfaba add more milk or water]

200 ml plant based milk [almond, oat, soya are preferable]

200-220 ml cold water [the batter should be like single cream consistency]

250 g of white spelt flour [or plain flour]

2 tbsp [30 ml] sunflower oil + extra for frying

1 tbsp potato starch [or tapioca, just to give that extra stretch]

1 tbsp [4-5 g] psyllium husk [optional, but your guts will be happy if you add it]

*1 pinch of salt if your aquafaba does not contain any salt. This is optional, but it helps with the taste. 

*jam or anything you like to serve

How to? :

Well, there is not much science to the preparation process of pancakes. Chuck everything in a blender or a mixer and mix it well for couple of minutes until all combined. You can mix it in a bowl with a whisk, it will just take few minutes longer. 

Let it rest for about 15-30 minutes. The batter will thicken. 

Heat up the frying pan and add 1 teaspoon [tsp] of oil to it. It helps with the first pancake. After that, if using a non-stick pan, no frying oil need to be used. But I like to add few drops of oil to the frying pan every 3-4 pancakes. 

If you feel your batter is too thick [---> flours are different from different brands. Some are more thirsty then others] and does not spread easily, add a bit more water to it and mix it well. 

Serve with your favourite jam, chocolate spread and bananas or anything you like. Enjoy :-)