Pancake Tuesday is, for many, a last chance to indulge in some sweet and savoury delights before lent starts. For the estimated 400,00 people in Ireland who suffer from coeliac disease or gluten intolerance, it can pose many challenges as well. Fortunately, the Coeliac Society of Ireland has shared some tasty and healthy pancake recipes for those on a gluten-free diet.
Gluten occurs naturally in that flour that is one of the main ingredients of regular pancake mix we use to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Consuming even a small amount can have a big impact on the health of someone suffering from this coeliac disease.
There is no register for coeliac disease in Ireland, but EU average incidence rates shows that one in every hundred people in Ireland has the condition. That’s almost 50,000 people who should be living strictly gluten free.
Additionally, an estimated further 7% of the population suffer from some form of gluten intolerance. That’s nearly 400,000 people in total who will appreciate the recipes that are gluten free and remain tasty.
Symptoms
Symptoms of the lifelong auto-immune condition include abdominal pain, recurring mouth-ulcers, weight-loss, vomiting and diarrhoea.
If untreated, coeliac disease can affect fertility and lead to other health conditions such as osteoporosis. There is no cure for coeliac disease, the only treatment is a strict gluten-free diet.
The recipes below provide the solution to a sweet and savoury gluten free pancake Tuesday.
Banana Pancakes
Ingredients
1 banana
2 eggs
A drop of vanilla essence
Method
Mash the banana well. Beat the eggs and mix well into the banana. If you have a soup blender, give the mixture a quick whizz to get it as smooth as you can.
Add a little of the batter to the pan to the size you want. Cook until it is lightly browned underneath and almost set on top.
Flip over and cook on the other side.
Top with berries, yoghurt or just enjoy as they are.
Simple traditional style pancake batter and savoury options
Ingredients
250g (8oz) gluten free flour or gluten free white bread Mix
Pinch of Salt
1 Large Egg
14 fl oz Milk
Butter for frying
Method
Combine all dry ingredients in bowl, add egg and milk and beat until batter is smooth, no lumps.
Let batter stand for 10 minutes, heat a little butter on the pan and use a soup ladle to drop the batter onto pan.
When mixture is puffed and bubbling on top, turn and cook on other side.
Serve hot with honey drizzled over.
Suggested fillings for Pancakes
Banana & Lemon Filling
Ingredients
4 Bananas sliced
3 tablespoons Golden Syrup
2 tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice
Method
Place all ingredients in pan and simmer gently for about one minute, spoon into prepared pancakes and serve with fromage frais
Apple & Blackberry Filling
Ingredients
450g (1lb) Cooking Apples
225g (8 oz) Blackberries
3 tablespoons Water
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
Method
Peel apples and slice into pan with blackberries, add water and cook gently for about 10 minutes until fruit is soft.
Serve in prepared pancakes
Orange; Blueberry Filling
Ingredients
4 Medium Oranges
2 Cups Blueberries
Method
Peel oranges and divide into segments, combine with the blueberries and heat gently until fruit is warmed through.
Serve on prepared pancakes, topped with natural yogurt.
The Trudeau
– by chef Finn Ní Fhaolain
(Serves 2)
Dry Mix
2 cups (240g) Gluten Free self-rising flour
1½ tsp GF baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt – one twist of a salt grinder
Wet Mix
1 cup (240ml) milk
1 cup (240ml) water
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas i.e. brown-looking skin
Coconut oil or butter for frying
Preparation
- Pop all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and mix. If you’re feeling fancy you can sift them first.
- In a big jug, lash in the milk and water, crack in the eggs and chuck in the bananas. Blend with a hand blender.
- Make a well in the dry mix, pour in the wet mix in and blend. You should have a runny batter. I don’t add anything sweet, as there are natural sugars in the banana and I’ll probably drown the pancakes in maple syrup later. Pour the batter into a jug.
- Heat up a good non-stick pan to a medium-high heat. Pancakes can stick to an old crappy pan; this can make you frustrated and lead to your throwing the pan out the window into the back garden – not that I’m admitting I did that, just saying it can happen…
- To coat the pan, I melt about a tablespoon of oil or butter in it and swirl it around. Then I gently rub the pan down with a piece of kitchen paper, which I’m sure would draw a gasp of horror from most chefs. This blots the excess butter, so your pancakes don’t feel like they were cooked in grease.
- I do a tester pancake to make sure the pan is hot enough. It should take 30–50 seconds for bubbles to form on the top of the pancake. Now flip it over and cook for another 30–50 seconds.
- These pancakes will expand so make them small, i.e. about 2 tablespoons of batter each. If you were around in the nineties, these pancakes should look like the ones Sabrina the Teenage Witch kept dreaming about when she had a pancake addiction. You should be able to get about three at a time in a decent-sized pan.
To Serve
Serve these pancakes as a stack with a little knob of butter on top, a pile of crispy bacon on the side and drowned in maple syrup.
Buttermilk Pancakes
– by chef Finn Ní Fhaolain
(Serves 2)
Ingredients
1 cup GF self-rising flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk – don’t forget to shake it up!
1 medium free-range egg
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon – optional
1 ripe banana or 1/2 cup blueberries (optional)
Preparation
- Add all ingredients to a large bowl or pouring jug and blend. If you’re not using the banana, you can also just do this with a whisk or fork.
- Put a pan on a medium-high heat and once hot, melt the butter. Add the butter to the pancake and mix and stir. Ensure enough butter remains to evenly coat the pan.
- I find my pan usually fits about 3 little pancakes – they’ll be the puffy, stackable American-style ones!
- They should take about 30 seconds or so either side until golden brown and you can keep a plate warm in the oven for pancakes while you use up all the batter.
- These pancakes last well and sometimes you can just pop them in the toaster the next day too!
For more recipes, visit https://www.coeliac.ie/recipes/pancakes/
