The Peoples' Pancake

Whenever I find myself making breakfast for a group of people, I like to turn out these easy crowd-pleasers. The best part is, they're vegan and gluten-free, so almost anyone can eat them. Berries were on sale at my local grocer that morning, so I treated my friends to homemade blackberry syrup.

Vegan Banana Pancakes

2 brown bananas

1/4 C soy milk

1/2 C brown rice flour

1/4 C sorghum flour

1/4 C tapioca starch

pinch baking powder

pinch salt

Mush the bananas in a bowl. Add the soy milk and mix. Sift the dry ingredients together and mix with the banana/milk mixture.

Spoon the batter on a griddle or hot pan with a little canola oil or margarine (I like Earth Balance Buttery Spread because its non-hydrogenated).

I never measure the ingredients when I make these, so all of the amounts above are estimates. If you like thicker pancakes and the batter looks a little thin, add more brown rice flour, or if you want it thinner, add more soy milk.

Berry Syrup

1 pint berries, cleaned

1/3 C sugar or agave nectar

juice of half lemon or lime

Put all ingredients in a small pot with enough water to cover. Simmer for at least 15 minutes, or until the fruit starts to separate from the seeds. Strain the syrup to remove most of the seeds. I like to leave a few seeds in for a pleasant, but not overwhelming, crunch. If the fruit needs help separating form the fruit, you can pulse the liquid in a blender or use an emersion blender to quickly zap the syrup before straining.

Here's an action-shot of the pancakes sharing space on my plate with a veggie omelet. For the advanced move, try spreading nut butter on the pancakes before drizzling with syrup. My favorite is almond butter!

Photos courtesy of Robin Petré.