Soy Milk Pancakes

Making vegan pancakes has always been a challenge for me. I do not remember ever succeeding. Making them has been a breakfast nightmare for me, and for that reason I named them "paincakes" and decided that I didn't like them anyway.
Having a long commune and not much time to run around the kitchen with my apron on, I have been trying to experiment on Sunday mornings intending to bring a bit of royal flavor to the breakfast table, rather than the one of cereals with soy yoghurt or soy milk.
You probably know what I am hinting on here, yes, I did fight my paincake nightmare again this morning. Found the most simple recipe and was amazed by the results. Tompa jumped out of bed immediately and attacked his plate.

SOY MILK PANCAKES:

prep time: 25 minutes
makes: 6 big pancakes

• 125g whole grain flour (I used spelt)
• pinch of salt
• 200 ml soy milk (I used vanilla flavored)
• 1 tbsp soy yoghurt (optional, to fluff them up)
• oil for greasing
  

Mix all the ingredients to a smooth liquidy batter. Take care to break all the lumps.
Heat the non sticking frying pan until really hot, add a drizzle of oil and smear it around the pan. Pour in a laddle of batter and with a flat spatula, spread the batter evenly in round motions. Fry for about a minute, flip over and finish.

I added raisins to my batter, but originally I was hoping for blueberries.

Update Feb 17th - I just made these with savory filling and they were fantastic. I even added some curry powder to the batter for some extra flavor.

Update April 17th - Cannot get enough of pancakes, apparently. Today I have thickened the dough by adding some oatmeals. They came out perfect, just like the traditional American Pancakes.

We had ours with fresh cubed mango and whisked yoghurt with honey and carob powder. For even a more royal taste, try my No Fat, No Sugar, Nutty Chocolate Spread. Yum, yum, yum... Sundays are from now on Pancakes Days.
To show off, I am sending this to this month´s Weekend Breakfast Blogging to Rajitha over at Hunger Pangs. The theme is Soy and its by products. Enjoy a piece of health!

Traditional French Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a simple vegetable medley with its juices cooked and baked in wine. A delish aubergine-zucchini-tomato combo from Provence garnished with traditional French herbs or even better - Herb de Provence. I have prepared this dish many times and it never went wrong. Perfect on its own or as a side dish to meats and fish.

The recipe is very forgiving, which makes it easier for me never to get bored of it and leaves a large place for my kitchen experiments. So please, have a spoonful:

TRADITIONAL FRENCH RATATOUILLE:

prep time: 60 mins
serves:4

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 red chili (my provocative contribution ;-)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 400g eggplant
• 400g zucchini
• 1 tbsp Herb de Provence
• 1 bay leaf
• 100 ml red wine
• 400 g tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• salt

Heat the oil in a pan and brown chopped onions, chili and garlic. Add cubed eggplant and zucchini and mix well (I threw in some chopped mushrooms today, too). Top with herbs and continue frying on low heat for about 5 minutes.
Add the wine, tomatoes, tomato purée, bay leaf and salt, cover and cook for couple of minutes until all the ingredients have combined.
Transfer to a baking dish and into the oven with it. (I like to sprinkle some more herbs on top)

After good half hour, your dinner is sur la table!

Traditionally ratatouille is served warm as a main dish on omelette, with a piece of fresh bread, cous-cous or rice, or cold as hors-d'oeuvre.

This is my contribution to Vegetarian Awareness Month event hosted by Coffee & Vanilla. It was really no problem for me to participate, cause 95% of what I cook at home is 100% vegetarian. Lovely logo, Margot...

Monday Spice Collection (Part 1) - Herb De Provence

As promised in my previous posts, I am now revealing the very first recipe of Wedding Spice Collection, I created for my sister as her wedding present.

Herb de Provence is what I jokingly call an 'artificial' mix. The reason why I say so is because it is not a traditional French herb blend, as one might think, but a commercial ready-made seasoning package. The ingredients are, of course, genuine and represent the traditional way of cooking in southern France, however, the ancient grandmas never heard of it. Back then, they carefully picked and used each of the local herb separately and only combined them prior to cooking, accordingly.
BUT!!! In the world of modern grandmas, who would abandon a nice dried commercial herb mix that, after all, has the same effect on the dish? Busy as we are, too many spice blends are never enough :) The most common ingredients are thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, marjoram, fennel and lavender flowers, but there are several other ones added, depending on the manufacturer or personal taste. Here is a bit of my taste:

HERB DE PROVENCE :

• 1 tbsp marjoram
• 2 tbsp thyme
• 1 tbsp savory
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 1 tbsp basil
• 1 tbsp rosemary
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tbsp lavender flowers
  

Mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container.

This is a very simple herb mixture, that is perfect as garnish or flavoring to any kind of dishes, particularly to the of French or Italian cuisine. It is mostly used at the beginning of cooking, since they all need certain amount of heat to release aroma to the dish. I used it:

1. as a seasoning for pasta or pizza
2. into the soups or stews
3. mixed with wine as a marinade
   
4. mixed with butter as herb butter
5. baked together with potato wedges

There are so many ways of utilizing herbs, I am sure you have your own... Wanna share?

Next Monday is a curry powder day... do not go away then :=)