For a guilt-free Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day make these Eggless Amaranth Pancakes which are packed with goodness like amaranth flour and banana and topped with exotic mango. They also have no added refined sugar. No need to stop your vegan streak either as these pancakes can also easily be made dairy free.

I recently just came back from uni for a short break, so naturally, I brought back far too many things. One of the perks of having a car! Mostly laundry… but also any uneaten food from the fridge.

I also brought back two pretty ripe bananas that were only a few hours away from going black. I didn’t want my mum to notice all this food that I obviously hadn’t been eating so I had to make use of it fast!!

One of the ways of university halls bonding is to make pancakes together on Shrove Tuesday! Que snapchat and Instagram stories of failed flipping attempts, and the occasional successful one!

One of our favourite breakfasts at home is banana pancakes that are made with various flours such as buckwheat or amaranth. So the easiest way to destroy the evidence (uneaten bananas) was to crush them into the batter.

Through this, we do not need to add any sugar and simply serve with any fruit that is lying around the house.

Recently, mangoes have started cropping up in UK supermarkets so served the pancakes with them. I do like to treat myself and drizzle a little date syrup on top to give that extra sweetness.

WHAT IS SHROVE TUESDAY/PANCAKE DAY – UK?

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, also known as the start of Lent. Traditionally, fatty ingredients such as milk and eggs were used up before the Lenten fast. One of the best recipes for this is the pancake.

This year, 2019 , Pancake Day falls on the 5th of March .

Eggless Pancake Recipes

Tres Leches Pancakes

Mango Pancakes

Buckwheat Pancakes

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF AMARANTH?

Amaranth has a high proportion of protein compared to many other grains – making it a great flour option for vegans and vegetarians. It is also high in fibre and is gluten-free.

INGREDIENTS

The main ingredient is Amaranth flour . In India, this flour is called rajagro flour and is often used during fasting.

Ripe bananas have also been used in this recipe. The banana adds sweetness and also acts as an effective substitute for egg.

I have used skimmed milk here but you can also use any non-dairy milk.

Small amount of plain flour , whole wheat flour or oat flour. To keep these pancakes gluten-free add rice, gram or buckwheat flour.

Oil

HOW TO MAKE EGGLESS AMARANTH PANCAKES

Simply add the flour, banana and milk to the blender and blend until you get a smooth runny batter. For British/European pancakes, keep the batter runny enough to get a thin pancake. For American style pancakes, keep the batter a little thicker.

Heat a non-stick flat bottomed pan. Add a little oil and when the oil is hot, ladle a spoon of the batter into the middle of the pan. Quickly spread the batter thin using the back of the ladle. In around 1/2 minutes, the pancake will begin to bubble.

Now flip the pancake (showing off your skills here is not necessary) and cook the other side. When the pancake is lightly brown, it is ready.

The pancakes can be served with a drizzle of date syrup and any fruit to your liking. We like to change it up depending on the seasonal produce!

MORE AMARANTH RECIPES:- Amaranth and sesame seeds doughnuts | Cashew and Amaranth Cookies | Farali Amaranth Fudge | Amaranth Pudding (rajgaro siro)

EGGLESS AMARANTH PANCAKES

Eggless Amaranth Pancakes

ingredients

• 250g Amaranth flour-Rajagaro no lot

• 2 tablespoon flour

• 200ml Skimmed milk – to get desired consistency

• Few drops of vanilla extract

• 2 Ripe bananas

• Any flavourless oil

• Pinch bicarbonate of soda

• 2 Mango peeled and cut

• 1/2 cup blueberries

• Date syrup

• Icing sugar (optional)

• Blender or Hand Blender

• Flat frying pan

• Spatula

instructions

1. Using a food blender, blend together amaranth flour, bananas and milk.
2. Add vanilla extract and soda, mix well.
3. Heat a flat frying pan and add a teaspoon of oil.
4. When the oil is hot, ladle batter onto the middle of the pan and very quickly spread using the back of the ladle.
5. As the pancake begins to bubble and can lift off the pan, it is ready to flip over
6. Cook the pancake for a minute or two on the other side
7. Remove from the heat and remove.
8. Fold the pancake and serve in a serving plate.
9. Top it up with mangoes, blueberries.
10. Drizzle date syrup and sprinkle some icing sugar if using.
11. Serve straight away.

NOTES:

If preparing for on a fasting day, omit vanilla extract. 
For a vegan option use plant-based milk.
Use any seasonal fruits for toppings. 
Don't have date syrup? use maple, agave or honey syrup.

Cast your senses back to that perfect European holiday with this Rustic Pizzeria style Chargrilled Vegetable Pizza. A hearty wholemeal base topped with a fragrant tomato sauce and layers of chargrilled veg. A perfect weekend treat as well as for the midweek!

During our recent few holidays in Europe, we’d eaten plenty of pizzas. All varying a little by taste but they all had one thing in common – loaded with fresh flavours and that rustic look of the pizzas. Something that is so hard to find from takeaway pizza places in the UK.

For us, the best kind of souvenir is food related. From our holiday to the French Riviera – and visiting local markets, we had so much fun buying all sorts of dried herbs and foods. Now each time we use them, we reminisce on our wonderful trip.

Armed with a large bag of lavender and herbs de Provence, I wanted to recreate the same style of pizza back home.

PIZZA FOR WEEKEND AND MIDWEEK DINNER

We love to make pizza over the weekend, so everyone at home can enjoy hot pizza and each others company, also a little help comes around for me when I start assembling the pizza. A nice way to bring the family together in the kitchen. The dough can be frozen to use at a later date, so a pizza for you for a midweek dinner too. Just don’t forget to bring out the dough from the freezer in the morning!

BUDGET AND STUDENT FRIENDLY

All you young people at uni, no need to call to your local pizza joints as this easy, delicious and budget-friendly pizza is so much healthier and fun for you too make. Prepare it over the weekend, make some extra dough and sauce for a midweek meal.

INGREDIENTS

The base is made from a mix of wholemeal bread flour and white bread flour, dried active yeast, sugar and salt. ( One can use plain flour and chapatti flour if bread flour is not available)

The sauce is passata with added herbs de Provence, lavender, garlic powder, red chilli flakes, salt and sugar

You can use whichever veggies you have lying around. We used red and yellow capsicum, courgette, artichokes, black and green olives, sundried tomatoes, red onion. You could also use aubergine, mushrooms, capers. The best pizza will have vegetables that have been freshly bought and used the same day or just a day after.

Oil to drizzle – extra virgin olive oil infused with garlic, red chilli, black pepper, rosemary, dried herbs

HOW TO MAKE PIZZA FROM SCRATCH

Making your own pizza at home is the ultimate cooking experience. Although it is a slightly lengthy process, it is the most rewarding one.

First procedure for this recipe is to make a dough and to prepare a perfect pizza dough you will need yeast. In warm water add yeast, sugar and leave it for five to ten minutes. In a big bowl, place flour and salt add frothy yeast mixture little by little until a sticky dough is formed. Not too worry if the dough is very sticky this time.

Knead the dough for another ten minutes then transfer to an oiled bowl, cover the dough with the cling film and let it sit in a warmer place in the house. It will take around 45 to 60 minutes to prove the dough.

Meanwhile, prepare the pizza sauce. We have played it safe here. We just bought good quality passata from the supermarket and added our own touch by adding garlic powder, herbs de Provence, lavender, red chilli flakes, salt and sugar. Just mix it all together – you don’t need to cook.

Now prepare the chargrilled vegetables, cut all the veggies and chargrilled them on high heat on a griddle pan with little olive oil.

Once the dough is ready to use, preheat the oven to the highest setting. Divide the dough into equal (approximately 200g) portions and shape it into a ball. Cover with the damp cloth and let it rise again for 15 minutes. Roll out the dough on a dusted (with semolina) worktop in the shape you want. Place the base onto a baking tray that has been dusted with a little fine semolina. Spread on the pizza sauce and cook for around 5 minutes.

Remove the base from the heat and layer on the toppings. Drizzle on the prepared oil. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until the base is turning golden brown and cheese bubbling.

Serve with plenty of rocket salad either on top or on the side.

Chargrilled Vegetable Pizza

ingredients

• 2x7g sachet dried yeast

• 2 TSP sugar

• 2 TSP salt

• 350g strong bread flour

• 350g wholemeal bread flour

• Oil for greasing

• 360ml warm water

• 350g passata or thick tomato puree

• salt to taste

• 1 TBSPSugar

• 1TBSP Chilli flakes

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder or granules

• 1 TBSP Herb de Provence or Italian seasoning or dried mixed herbs

• 1/2 TSP dried lavender

• 250g light mozzarella cheese

• 1 yellow bell pepper sliced

• 1 red bell pepper sliced

• 250g courgette sliced

• 1 big red onion sliced

• 1 small bottle of artichokes

• 1 small bottle of sun-dried tomatoes

• Black and green olives

• 2 TBSP olive oil

• 20g fresh basil leaves

instructions

1. Pour the warm water into a big bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and sugar. Stir and mix and leave it aside for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is a little foamy over the surface.

2. In a big bowl mix both flours and salt, pour the yeast mixture and make a sticky dough.

3. Transfer the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it for 8-10 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic.

4. Put the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover it with the cling film and leave it aside for 45-60 minutes ( in cooler weather it may take more time) or until doubled in size.

5. Once the dough has risen, knock back the dough, knead it a little and divide into the equal portions and make balls.

6. Cover it with the damp cloth and leave it aside for 15 minutes.

7. Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl and leave it aside for later use.

8. On a high flame, heat the griddle pan. Chargrilled all the vegetables in olive oil except cheese, olives and sundried tomatoes. Leave it aside.

9. Preheat the oven to the highest setting around gas mark 7-8.

10. Roll out the dough balls into a thin circle, roughly 25-30 cm wide and 1.5 cm thick.

11. Transfer it to lightly floured baking sheets.

12. Evenly spread the passata sauce over the base leaving a 1-2 cm border.

13. Put it in the oven for 5 minutes.

14. Remove it from the oven and scatter the chargrilled toppings, cheese, olives and sundried tomatoes.

15. Back in the oven for another 5-7 minutes until the base is golden brown and cooked through.

16. Scatter over the basil leaves and flavoured olive oil before serving.

17. Serve with a rocket salad on the side and soft drink of your choice.