Wholegrain Savory Pancakes with Spicy Yogurt Sauce

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But, in today's world, there are lot of people who skip breakfast or drink coffee or tea for breakfast. There is more. There are people who eat such an unhealthy breakfast that I wonder how they can even concentrate on work having eaten such a heavy breafast. I am talking about eating pastries for breakfast which are high in sugar and fat. I was thinking that the traditional Indian breakfast is healthy. But then realized I wasn't really right in assuming so. Idlis, Dosa, Poori, Paratha all of them are pretty high in carbs and if you use ghee or oil generously, high in fat too. If you sit and calculate how much each dish has, you will realize that we are eating way too many calories first thing in the morning. So, are the quick breads, muffins, pancakes and waffles better? I don't think so either unless you eat them sparingly and they are not full of fat and empty carbs. Whatever you eat, you should know how much to eat. That is the key point. If someone sits and eats 6 idlis for breakfast (trust me, I have seen many doing this), it definitely tends to be unhealthy.

I made these pancakes. Idea was to make them as waffles, but realizing that not everyone has a waffle maker, decided to make them into pancakes. I made them savory and spicy and used scallions. This is inspired by the South Indian Uthappam, but is quick and has healthier blend of flours used.

One Year back: Marshmallow Fondant, Cranberry Pull apart buns, Black Eyed beans Kichadi, Savory Onion Tart

Ingredients:
For the pancakes:
Whole Wheat Flour - 1/3 cup
Barley Flour - 1/3 cup
Buckwheat flour - 1/3 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp (You might have to adjust up to 3/4 tsp)
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder or cayanne powder - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp (Or use paprika or some black pepper powder to taste)
Buttermilk - 1 cup (I used low fat)
Tomato paste - 2 TBSP (From the can - Read notes)
Water - 2 TBSP
Olive Oil - 2 TBSP
Scallion or green onions - 4 chopped reserve 2 TBSP of green part for the yogurt sauce

Cilantro - chopped 4 TBSP

For the Yogurt sauce:
Low fat yogurt - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Red chilli flakes - to taste
Scallion - green part chopped 2 TBSP from above
Cilantro - 1 TBSP chopped

Method:
In a bowl, whisk together all the flours, salt, red chilli powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, tomato paste and water. Whisk really well. Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet and mix. Do not over mix. Gentle folding is what is needed here. Check the salt and add if needed. Stir in the cilantro and chopped scallion. Heat a griddle and spray with vegetable oil spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter to make a pancake. The batter is very thick and you could thin it down with couple more TBSPs of water. I cooked them in low heat so that they cook through and are fluffy and fat. This batter doesn't spread much. You will have to flatten it a bit or use more water. I flattened it and made 5" diameter pancakes about 8. Serving size is 2 pancakes. Serve with the yogurt sauce.

To make the yogurt sauce, mix everything mentioned under For the Yogurt sauce above.

Notes:
If you cannot find tomato paste, you can puree one tomato in a blender and measure 1/4 cup of it and use. If using this, omit the water in the recipe.

Check out how many calories are in each serving of these pancakes..

Check out what all these ladies are up to today..

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Enjoy.