Another Flippin' Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is celebrated the day before the start of Lent, the latter being a tradition of abstinence practiced by many Christian denominations around the world. In the UK Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day... where yes... families make sweet and/or savoury pancakes to complement meals during the day - an act of indulgence before the sacrifice.

So, pancakes or crêpes, people?

In my home, they are one and the same! We call them pancakes although they resemble French crêpes. Having seen Hive account@mypathtofire's post, I'd say we are on the same page 😉In fact, the reason I am writing this post is in response to his call for pancake posts for the #ecencydiscord #edtopic of the week, and this is the first time I am posting in the Plant Power (vegan) community on Hive.

We make our pancakes vegan and gluten-free. It has taken a bit of trial and error but we have settled on a recipe (adapted sometimes if we are missing an ingredient or two lol) that works and results in yummy-licious pancakes.

I'm not going to go much into brand names for products used as we all know that not all products are available around the world, so I will try to be a bit more generic.

Ingredients:
*500 g plain white gluten-free flour
*Plant-based milk - about 4 cups to achieve a pancake mix consistency. We use Soy or Oat but you could use Almond.
*2 Tbsps oil
*Pinch salt
*1 tsp baking powder
*Egg replacer (we use either 2 tsp egg replacer powder equivalent to 2 eggs, OR we use 150 mls Oggs, an aquafaba liquid egg replacement for 3 eggs - yep 3 eggs this time lol - If we use the liquid replacer then we adjust the plant-based milk volume accordingly).
1 Tbsp vinegar to activate the baking powder
2 Tbsp white sugar
2-3 lemons
white sugar
sweet cinnamon powder

_{Top tip - if you don't have a commercial egg replacer offering in the cupboard, grab a tin of chickpeas and strain the chickpea water (aka aquafaba) out and use 150 mls of that instead OR throw in 1 Tbsp of pea protein powder - either will do the job!}

Method:
Add the flour and plant-based milk to a bowl and whisk by hand.
Once combined into a smooth mixture, add the remaining ingredients (excluding the lemon and the extra sugar/cinnamon mix) in the order listed above and whisk again. You should see little bubbles forming in the liquid mix.

Heat a small light pan over medium heat on the stove/hob.
Drop 1 tsp of vegetable oil into the pan to get started and spread with a flat spatula across the base of the pan.

Using a soup ladle, pour a ladleful into the pan, tilting the pan to ensure even coverage of the base. Watch the pancake mix carefully and when it starts to lift at the edges, keep checking gently underneath for it to achieve a light golden colour, then flip the pancake to cook the other side, using either a spatula or if you're good at flippin' pancakes, do it like a pro. I generally flip a few times. In the pic below, the pancake is not cooked enough yet but you can see the golden colouring starting.

Once cooked evenly on both sides, turn out onto a plate or serving board, and put the next ladle of mixture into the pan. Repeat the process 😂 (if the mix starts to stick to the pan, you may need to add a drop of oil to the pan between pancakes - tend not to need to do this for every new pancake made).

Sprinkle the cooked pancakes with a mix of sugar and cinnamon (balance the flavour to your preferred taste - personally I like a lot of cinnamon mixed in with the sugar!) and then squeeze fresh lemon to taste. Roll the pancakes and serve. Enjoy!!!

Serves a family of 4!