Vegan Pancakes

Someone very close to me has recently turned Vegan.
Imagine my dismay. IMAGINE IT.

Is it imagined? Good.

Of course, your imagined dismay is probably much worse than my real dismay, because I'm looking at this as an opportunity to flex my culinary biceps.


No eggs or dairy?

Sure, pancakes aren't a problem!


Once you get the basics of this recipe down, you'll realize that even wheat is optional.

Seriously.

I've made these pancakes with ground-up oatmeal instead of wheat flour on several occasions.
I have no idea if that makes them gluten-free, but if it does, then yaaaaaaay.
This is a very pliable recipe, and that's what makes it great.

(I can't believe I'm writing about gluten-free vegan pancakes. My next post is so going to be about live fish in pigsblood or something. I WILL make this up to you, I promise.)

(Calm down you vegans.)







(...Pork blood is not an easy thing to come by in Israel.*)

That's not to say you can't add eggs or dairy. This is a pretty great pancake recipe in general, and yields good results no matter what you throw into it. The basal form of these pancakes is vegan, but they can be modified in many ways. I'll go into that at the end.

And throughout the recipe.

Just read, damnit.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• A good non-stick pan. THIS IS KEY. Since we won't be using butter, we'll have to rely on the pan's Teflon to ensure we're able to flip the pancakes.
• Sugar - I prefer some sort of brown sugar, but the plain white stuff works too.
• Oil - It needs to be liquid when it goes into the batter, but that's the only requirement. I use canola, but essentially you could use anything. Olive, coconut, avocado... even schmaltz (you freaks). Just keep in mind that an oil with a very low smoke point is probably not a great idea, and that the oil's flavor will be noticeable in the finished pancakes.
• Flour - As I've said, it doesn't have to be wheat flour. This ingredient is your way of influencing the texture of the final pancake. The finer the flour, the smoother the pancakes. When I ground oatmeal in my coffee grinder the pancakes had a coarser, more rustic (I guess?) mouthfeel, which I found enjoyable. If you're really curious about this oatmeal thing - try toasting it in a dry pan before grinding it up.
• Eggs - Hah! Just kidding.
• Milk Substitute - Soy, almond, hazelnut, rice.. Sweetened and unsweetened - they all work. You could even use... real milk.  I use hazelnut. It has a nice Nutella-i aftertaste. Just make sure the product you're using can be heated without releasing deadly toxins or something.
• Baking Powder 
• Salt - I use coarse sea-salt, which doesn't dissolve completely in the batter and gives tiny bursts of saltiness when the pancake is bitten into, but you can use fine salt if you're not into that.
• Vanilla Extract - I won't lie to you. I use the cheapest kind. This is really only here for a hint of vanilla. You can use real vanilla pods, or any other vanilla flavoring product you want, but keep in mind - these aren't Vanilla Pancakes (unless you want them to be?), so go easy.

WHAT TO DO:

In a mixing bowl - combine the dry ingredients. 

I know, I know, I didn't give ANY type of measurements. 

The truth is, I have no idea what the measurements are. I always cook by eye, and I'd like to teach you how to do so as well. Annoying? Maybe. But it ensures you understand what you're doing and why, and thus prevents you from seriously fucking up.

So what are we looking for when combining the dry ingredients?

We want the flour to remain the dominant thing we see when they're all combined. 

Why? Because pancakes should be mostly flour.

If you're using brown sugar, you should see some specks of brown in your combined dry ingredients, but not a whole lot. The salt should be unnoticeable by eye, which isn't saying a whole lot since flour is white, but if you're cooking for two or three people, if you've thrown in more than two hefty pinches of salt then you've gone too far.

The right amount of salt.

Don't be afraid to use a lot of baking powder. When it warms up it creates tiny gas bubbles, which make the pancake fluffy and airy. Our batter is heavy, and needs a lot of help to gain some lift. 

If you've made regular pancakes before, consider using double the amount you'd normally use, since whisked egg provides a lot of lift in the traditional recipe. 

If you're cooking for two or three people this should be around three teaspoons. 

The right amount of baking powder. More or less. This is probably a bit more. Go with less.

No matter what you've thrown in to the dry mix, it should look homogeneous before we add the wet ingredients. 

Like so.

Right.

Now that the dry ingredients are combined, we can get them wet.

Our wet ingredients have two duties.

The first is to make a batter, but the second is to substitute the eggs in traditional recipes, which add flavor and help the batter hold together.

This has far reaching implications, because you can use a lot of things to replace eggs.

We're making regular, plain old pancakes right now, but you could easily throw in pumpkin puree, mashed sweet potatoes, chocolate pudding, bananas or feces (don't throw feces in the batter).

The idea is to reach egg-like consistency without eggs.

Start by adding the oil. We want an amount that won't be able to wet the entire dry mix on the one hand, but that will be noticed once the other wet ingredients are introduced on the other.

In my mind the oil kind of replaces the yolk, but that's probably bullshit.

Then add a few drops of the vanilla extract, followed by a small amount of milk substitute.

If you want to add booze to your pancakes now would be the time. Barenjager comes to mind.

Also, corn or agava syrup works well, texture wise, but can easily be skipped, which is why I included neither in the basic ingredient list.

This combination should now be similar enough to eggs with a little liquid to fool the dry ingredients into thinking this isn't a vegan recipe.

Start mixing.

Your batter should now start looking like a dough, and bunch up at the end of your whisk. This is OK. 

We don't want our batter to be too runny, so we'll work up from being too dry to being just right, as that's easier than working down from too wet.

Slowly add more milk liquid, until the batter loosens up a bit. It should no longer bunch up at the end of your whisk, but should retain some pull and some "heaviness".

That's it! Our batter is ready.

Heat your pan over a medium flame. Once it's noticeably hot when you place your hand over it, but not unbearably so, pour your batter. It will expand a bit, so if you're going for a particular size, stop pouring a little before you've reached the desired circumference.

Now we must have patience.

There are two processes happening at once here.

The first is the cooking of the batter. As the batter heats up, it loses moisture and starts bubbling thanks to the baking powder. It eventually loses enough moisture it begins to set - hopefully around the bubbles - and thus gains the airiness we desire in our pancakes.

The second thing that's happening is browning, both of the flour and the sugar which should begin to caramelize. This makes our pancakes look like this:

and not like this:

Sickening.

If you don't wait long enough before flipping the pancake, the bubbles won't set and the pancake won't get a tan.

If you wait too long, however, the sugar will begin to burn and your pancakes will taste like charcoal.

So how do we know when to flip?

First, look at the batter.

It should be bubbly all over when you flip it, and almost dry around the edges.

Second, use your sense of smell.

Can you smell something burning? That's probably your pancake (although it could be a stroke). A light burning smell that's just starting to emerge from the pan doesn't mean you have to throw away what you're currently cooking, as most likely it's just the edges of the pancake and it's still edible. Hurry and flip it over. If it's started burning before the bubbles begin to set, you should lower your flame and lift your pan in the air to allow it to cool off a little bit.

Being an impatient tinkerer, when I cook pancakes I am often tweaking the gas knobs, lifting the pan, moving the pancakes around different hot and cold spots on the pan's surface and bouncing on my heels - but all of these aren't really necessary if you've got your pan at the proper temperature.

Burnt but still good.

Once your pancake is flipped it doesn't need more than a few seconds to lightly brown on its underside. lift it up a bit and check it's set, and transfer it to a serving plate.

That's it!

These pancakes will keep well for at least a day in the fridge and can be reheated in either the oven or a toaster.

MODS:

You can modify this pancake in a lot of ways. I've detailed some of them in the text above, but I'd like to offer a complete non-vegan recipe here.

Instead of the milk substitute, add yogurt and milk (making sure to add the milk gradually, like we talked about), along with eggs. Keep the oil (which can be melted or clarified butter), don't butter the pan, do everything like the above recipe, and you're in for some pretty awesome traditional pancakes. 

I also like to add small cubes of briny feta cheese (called Bulgarian Cheese here in Israel) to the pancake before I flip it. 

Jesus, this turned out to be a really long post for a really simple recipe!

Let's sum up, shall we?

TL;DR:

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl until homogeneous. 

Add oil, vanilla extract and milk substitute. Mix into a thick batter.

Dole out batter over hot nonstick pan, and flip when bubbly and starting to turn dry around the edges.

Serve.

-Adam

*But if you know a guy...

COMMENT

Israeli Food Taboo and the new Vegan Trend

It seems like everybody here in Israel is going Vegan.
Much like the creators of Troll 2, I feel Veganism closing in on me:

Dominos Pizza chose to introduce their first ever Vegan friendly pizza to the Israeli market first (tried it, tastes like flavored melted plastic), Gary Yourofsky is hailed as a celebrity, with prime-time interviews in all of the major networks, sold out talks and an ever growing following - so much so that he's repeatedly said he believes Israel will be the first ever Vegan nation - and, perhaps worse of all, even my favorite cephalopod has been declared vegetarian.

So why is it so easy for Veganism to take root specifically in Israel?

Here's my theory, if we decide that personal morals and ideology can be neglected from the equation, being relatively similar in Israel and elsewhere.

Despite Israel's rich and diverse produce, livestock and cuisine, many of the Israelis I know are very particular about what they eat.
Some have a strong aversion to fruit and vegetables, some only eat a specific dish made in a specific way, some are revolted by meat, or fish, or certain ways in which they are prepared, I know several people who will refuse to eat any dish that has fried onion in it, or garlic, or tomatoes, and the list goes on.

I'm not talking about children - all of the above examples are taken from countless adults I know.

This food-particularity is so ingrained in Israeli food culture that the preparation of many of the staple foods of Israel - Falafel, Schawarma and Hummus are the first three examples that come to mind - entails a ritual in which the diner chooses what ingredients go in the dish. Falafel stand vendors' stereotypical line is "Hummus, chips, salad?" - inquiring whether all these should go into the pita, or if the person making the order has some other preference. Dish customization can get quite elaborate when ordering these dishes, and most of the servings in Falafel, Schawarma and Hummus places change radically from one customer to the next.

In places serving more "exotic" dishes, many of the menu items come with a warning (Danger! Contains Coriander! Contains Pork! Contains Shrimp! Contains Cucumbers!). During my short time waiting tables at Zozobra, one of the first Asian fusion noodle bars to break into Israeli mainstream dining, I was taught that my job was to direct the diner to a dish which would contain no offensive ingredients.

Now, I am not very familiar with the eating habits of foreigners. I do know, however, that during my travels around the world, many of the places I've visited simply served their dishes in the way they thought best, and customization and food trigger warnings were very rare.
I also got the feeling that adults were expected to eat what was on their plate, and that "hating" a certain ingredient was considered childish and somewhat socially unacceptable.


So let's look at the way food is regarded in Israel.
I think one of the reasons so many adults can retain "childish" attitudes towards food here is that it is more socially acceptable to consider certain types of food as disgusting, and to express that sentiment, than it is in other places.

Take a look at Wikipedia's list of Taboo Foods. Out of that list, try to see which animals are considered acceptable foods in Jewish culture. I'll give you a hint - almost every entry has some sort of reference to Judaism.

It is therefore not surprising that many people have an aversion to these foods in Israel. And with aversion comes disgust.
Many Israelis will not only tell you that they don't eat pork or shellfish, but that they also find them disgusting, and can't understand why anyone would want to eat them at all.


When it becomes socially acceptable to refuse food on the grounds that it's revolting, the social act of sitting down to eat a meal is also modified, with a variety of dishes served at the table. It is therefore easier for an individual to declare that in addition to not eating, say, tomatoes, that meat, dairy and eggs are now off limits too. Society already accommodates strange diets, what's a few ingredients more?


So that's my theory regarding the way Israeli Food Taboo actually lay down the foundations for non-standard dietary choices.


Personally, I'd eat almost anything, and I think that it's a shame that people willfully miss out on interesting culinary and sensory experiences because they haven't learned to flex their palates, but to each his own.

Coming up next - Culinary Adventures!
My next posts will probably not be about cultural attitudes towards food, but more about seeking out weird, special and new ingredients, techniques and appliances.
See you around!

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UPDATE:
I'd like to stress that the overlooking of the moral aspects of choosing a Vegan lifestyle was intentional.
I am not trying to belittle Veganism, nor do I think that the choice to abstain from eating animal products is simply one of convenience. 

I don't, however, think that Israelis are "more moral" than other nations, nor that they are more sensitive to the suffering of animals or the world's ecological plight.

Since these are the core reasons most people turn to Veganism (in my experience), I thought I'd look at the non-related circumstances which set Israel apart, such as a higher tolerance for aversion to certain foods, and try to understand where that comes from.

Of course I realize people turn to Veganism mostly for reasons of conscience, but I believe the force of conscience is equal, if not greater, in other countries, and that therefore explaining Veganism's popularity in Israel by basing the argument on Israelis' morality is wrong.