Eggless Pancakes

May 19, 2012mayurisjikoni

Eggless Pancakes

For all who don’t like eggs, there is no reason why you cannot enjoy some American style pancakes. To make Eggless Pancakes is so easy, just need a few ingredients and a hearty breakfast is ready.

What are Pancakes?

Pancakes are flat, often thin or slightly thick cakes made in a frying pan or griddle using a a batter. Can be either sweet or savory. Traditionally, the batter is made with flour, egg, butter and milk. However, these days there are so many variations of pancakes. Though the description has the word cake, in reality pancakes are one of the oldest forms of bread known to mankind.

Memories …

The first time I ever tasted the American Pancakes was during our trip to Disney World, Florida years ago. We decided to have breakfast at the famous IHOP as recommended by the travel agent who presented us with our tickets and passes. The first plate arrived with a stack mile high of pancakes, topped with a small scoop of something yellow. I thought, wow ice cream early in the morning. Its only when it began to melt on the pancakes I realized we were served with a mini scoop of butter! Yes the scoop size that one would normally use for ice creams. With so many pancakes in the stack, we thought that was for all to share. But that was not the case, each of us got our own stack of pancakes, with so many different condiments to go with it.

For a moment we all kept on staring at each other. This was definitely not our one day breakfast portion but a whole week! Well none of us finished our portions and felt bad that we wasted so much food. Being my first ever bite of the famous American pancakes, I loved the soft, fluffy, cinnamon, buttery breakfast treat.

Pancakes are made all over the world

Back then my knowledge of World cuisine was limited to what we read in cookery books and magazines. Its now that I know that many countries world over have their own version of pancakes. So, basically I’ve tasted pancakes before I stepped into IHOP but back then knew it by the traditional names as uttapam, pudla, malpua, etc.

Pancakes and Breakfast

Around the American Revolution time pancakes were served as dinner option with stews. How it became a breakfast option is really not known. And anyway pancakes were not as thick as we know them today. They were thinner, more crepe like.Closer home when we think of breakfast snacks, uttapam, chila, pudla have always been an option for hot breakfast.

Are Pancakes healthy?

The million dollar question… it all depends. Take the Indian crepe like pudla, its definitely a healthy option for breakfast, made usually from chickpea flour (besan) with added vegetables. Uttapams too are healthy and gluten free. When it comes to the American Pancakes, one cannot have them everyday as they are high in carbohydrateswhich you get from the refined flour, honey or maple syrup, butter and added refined sugar. These days, refined flour is being replaced with more healthier wholewheat flour, oats, other grain flours,sugar is replaced by healthier alternates like honey, maple syrup, jaggery etc. Its also possible to make them lighter by using oil instead of butter.How you want to prepare them is totally up to you.

First time I made American Pancakes at home

One day my daughter pestered me to make some pancakes for Sunday Brunch. Back then there were not many places serving pancakes for brunch. She got the craving for them when we got talking about our Disney World trip. Back then there were not that many recipes on the internet, so the hunt began by going through all the cookery books I had. I made them and we enjoyed them with some chocolate sauce.

Fast Forward

Pancakes occasionally make their to our breakfast table especially on a Sunday lazy morning as brunch. I try and make them with healthier ingredients and we do go easy on the added sugar and how much honey or maple syrup is drizzled on them. What I don’t like to compromise is on the butter as I love the buttery taste. I’ve occasionally made pancakes without eggs for those who don’t consume eggs. I love serving pancakes with loads of fruits.

Pancakes you may enjoy:

Ragi and Oat Pancakes

Farali Uttapam

Savory Oat Pancakes

Oladushki – Russian Pancakes

Dutch Baby Pancakes

Koiloreo – Goan Pancakes

Savoury Millet Pancake

Vibibi – Swahili Pancakes

Apple Aebliskiver

What you can add to the batter?

You can replace the wholewheat flour for gluten free flour options. One can also add chopped fresh fruit, dried fruit, frozen fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, seeds, etc to the batter. Replace the milk with buttermilk. The options are endless.

Leavening Agent to use:

While most instant pancakes demand the usage of leavening agents like baking powder, soda bicarbonate (baking soda), some pancakes are made from yeast batter. Those ones require the batter to ferment for a while. Pancakes can be made from unfed sourdough starter where the batter is allowed to ferment.

Ingredients required for Eggless Pancakes

Whole Wheat Flour – I like to use the flour that we usually use for rotis (chappati).
Oats – the quick oats are best for this recipe
Cinnamon Powder – for flavour. Can replace it with cardamom as it tastes equally good
Milk – I use dairy milk but you can use any vegan milk of your choice for a vegan version
Butter – about 1 tbsp melted to add to the batter, as that makes them less chewy. Also butter for cooking the pancakes. For a vegan version, use vegan butter, coconut oil or normal cooking oil
Vanilla Extract – for flavoring. I sometimes replace it with orange or lemon zest.
Baking Powder – since no eggs are used, the main leavening agent is baking powder.
Baking Soda – to give that instant rise.

Dietary Tips:

For Vegan version replace the dairy milk and butter with vegan friendly products
Vegetarian / Satvik – as no eggs are used