Saturday, November 5, 2011

Rice Pancakes

Pancake batter require a full day and night preparation. But once the batter is prepared, pancakes cook quickly. Traditional pancakes soak and grind rice and lentils, then ferment the batter. Spices are mixed into the batter. The ratio varies for rice to lentils between 2:1 (brown rice) to 5:1 (white rice.) Ingredients vary, with different variety of rice and lentils, and different spices. Size and thickness vary, from pancake thickness to paper thin crepes.


Preparation: 24 hours
Cooking: 6-8 minutes

Ingredients
MAIN (BATTER)
1 cup medium grain brown rice, soaked
1/4 cup whole black lentils, soaked (urad dal)
1 cup water, soaking
1 cup water, grinding (as needed)
SPICE
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds (option)
2 tbsp chickpeas (option)
1/8 tsp salt
FINISH
1 banana or other fresh fruit

Preparation
Soak: Soak rice and lentils separately, 4-6 hours (morning.)
Grind Batter: Drain and reserve excess soaking water. Grind lentils separately to very fine paste, soft and foamy. Grinding lentils separately fine makes fluffy pancakes. Grind rice and fenugreek seeds to fine grain, smooth. Add reserved soaking water as necessary to thin batter. Batter should be thick, but pour easily from ladle, or through fingers. Batter thickens with ferment.
Ferment: Set room temperature or warmer, loosely covered, 6-8 hours (overnight.)
Grind Spices: Grind fenugreek seeds and mix spices, fenugreek and salt, into batter. (May also wet grind whole spices with lentils or rice.)
Cook: Blend fermented batter and spices. Add water to adjust thickness. Preheat non-stick pan to medium heat. (I prefer light non-stick omelet pan.) Water drops added spatter. Batter should be room temperature. Pour or ladle batter into flat rounds of desired size. 1 ladle makes 5 inch pancake, light brown (not golden brown.) Bubbles appear, then pop or subside, and change color. Turn with spatula. Cook to golden brown. Remove to plate and serve hot. (Between pancake batches, wipe clean hot pan with damp towel or sponge.)

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