Ragi Almond Chocolate Pancakes with Chia- vegan, gluten free.
Pancakes come with happy, warm, comfy and lazy vibes. For me, the possibilities of using so many varied grains veggies and fruits to create the ever kid loved pancakes motivate to keep reinventing the combinations.
Ragi(finger millet) is one of the very nourishing plants, that provides many of the essential aminoacids. 100g ragi flour contains about 13 g protein. And if you are concerned about magnesium, 100g ragi flour contains 137 mg magnesium (50% of your daily needs). Known to improving insulin resistance, ragi also provides ample calcium- about 344 mg calcium in 100g.
The usual problem I encounter when I use ragi alone, is it’s very earthy taste and a dry texture. So, to mask those taste and texture issues, I used almond flour and of course cacao powder to bring the chocolate flavor. Chia seeds add omega 3s, and also act as the needed binder.
I have tried few other ratios of flours, and this recipe below yielded the most fluffy and tasty pancakes. Try them, and you will save this recipe forever.
Ragi Almond Chocolate Pancakes with Chia
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 cup ragi flour
- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder -optional
Wet ingredients
- 2 cups plant based milk
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp almond butter
- 3-4 tbsp date syrup or maple syrup or mix of both see notes for substitutions
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 2 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 6 tbsp plant based milk set for 10 min
Mix ins- optional
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds- recommended
- any variety of chopped nuts
- chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix chia seeds with plant based milk and let the mixture sit for 10 min until a jelly forms. At the same time, mix the 2 cups plant based milk with apple cider vinegar and let it sit for 10 min too in a mixing bowl.Now after 10 minutes, to the plant based milk, add the almond butter, date or maple syrup per your choice. ( I find kids love a mixture of both). Also add vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
- In a bowl, add ragi and almond flours. To it, add baking powder, cacao powder, pinch of salt, cinnamon powder if desired. Mix them with a spatula or whisk.To this flour mixture, add the chia seed jelly and the wet ingredient mixture from above. Use a whisk to uniformly mix all the ingredients for a minute or two while your griddle is getting hot. You can add sliced almonds, chocolate chips, any other nuts as well as mix ins into the batter.
- On medium heat, using the batter, make pancakes of size of your choice. Flip them after 3-4 min and take them off the pan after another 1-2 min. Serve warm with syrup, variety of fruits especially berries.