Banana Buttermilk Pancakes

Banana pancakes topped with summer berries and drizzled with honey is what I want for breakfast on a weekend. Lent starts next week and you may be planning what pancake to prepare for ‘Pancake Tuesday’. I was in a mood for pancakes even before Tuesday. Hence, we had it over the weekend. Pancake is my all time favorite breakfast 🙂

Bananas are never wasted in my kitchen. When it’s too ripe to eat, it’s peeled and frozen for further use. This Sunday, the frozen bananas were puréed and added to the pancake batter. It’s a great way to use over ripe bananas. I prefer to make pancakes from scratch rather than using a boxed mix. You can’t go wrong making these beautiful lovelies if you measure the ingredients carefully. Collect the ingredients from your pantry and whip up a lovely breakfast for your family. Trust me, food cooked with love always tastes good.

Makes 13-15  4.5 inch or 10  6 inch pancakes

1 1/4 cups All purpose flour * I used unbleached AP flour

1 cup Buttermilk or buttermilk substitute * See note below for preparation

1 cup Banana purée (about 2 bananas) * If using frozen bananas, thaw before puréeing

1 Egg (beaten and at room temperature) * To warm the egg, place it in a bowl of warm(not boiling) water for 5 minutes or till it does not feel cold on touch

1 teaspoon Baking soda

2 tablespoons Oil or Butter (melted)

2 tablespoon Sugar

1/4 cup Milk (room temperature) * I used 2% dairy milk. Can be substituted with almond/rice/soy milk

1/4 teaspoon Salt

Oil or Butter to grease the griddle or skillet

Method

1. In a large bowl stir the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda.

2. Stir buttermilk into the dry ingredients. Then add in the banana purée.

3. Stir the  beaten egg and mix the batter gently. Add milk and oil/butter.  Alternately, you can mix all the wet ingredients together and fold into the dry ingredients to make a batter.

4.  Mix gently until combined. Do not beat the heck out of the batter. Over mixing will give flat and heavy pancakes.

5. It is alright to have wet lumps, not dry floury lumps. You’ll still get smooth and light pancakes. This is how my batter looked. Do you see  the lumps? Let it stand for atleast 15 minutes before spooning the batter on the griddle. Meanwhile, prepare the OJ and a pot of coffee.

6. Warm a griddle or skillet on medium heat. High heat will give burnt and dark sides. Grease the griddle with oil/butter. Use a ladle to pour the batter onto the griddle. This gives you same sized pancakes. I used a ladle as big as an ice cream scoop.

7. Look for bubbles on the uncooked surface of the pancakes. Once the pancake begins to bubble around the edges, it is ready to be flipped. Slide a wide spatula underneath the pancake and flip. If the pancake is browned evenly and cooked, it will come out easily. The first side is always smooth and pretty.

8. Cook until the second side is done and stack the pancakes on a plate. Each side takes about 2 minutes. Cooking time depends on the size of the pancake. Control the heat of the griddle, as the heat tends to increase after cooking a couple of batches.

Serve pancakes with butter, maple syrup or honey and a dollop of whipped cream. For fantastic pancakes, brush each side with a little butter. We had with homemade Orange Butter, lots of honey and berries  for breakfast. It was perfect with coffee and OJ for a  Sunday breakfast.

Buttermilk substitute (Acidified buttermilk)- Take a little less than 1 cup 2% dairy/low-fat/fat-free milk. Add 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice to make 1 cup. Let stand for 10 minutes. This gives 1 cup buttermilk substitute. * Use room temperature milk. If not warm milk in the microwave for 15 seconds before proceeding with the preparation.

American buttermilk is completely different from Indian buttermilk. Read here.

Variations

• Replace 1/2 measure of the flour with buckwheat flour or whole wheat flour for a healthier option. I’ve tried both with this ratio and made light pancakes.
• Replace the banana with berry purée for variety.

If these tips given is kept in mind while preparing pancakes, you’re assured to make some phenomenal pancakes.