Whole Wheat Pancakes (my style)

 Gothambu dosa (fermented wheat pancake/pancake) is a common item on our breakfast menu and it always goes with a potato curry/sambhar/coconut chutney.

 As a child I grew up on Maida Appams (pancakes made with Maida/All Purpose Flour) As mentioned in an earlier post either on this blog or on my facebook page, I strongly believe it was one of the easiest for my late mother to prepare for us four kids. We never called them pancakes because we were not taught to call them like so...we all ape what our mothers teach us don't we? We called them appams!

Slowly, all these little words started piling and bulldozing its ways  into my dictionary and now there are too many to remember with so many fancy terms in the culinary field-sophisticated names (tempura, fritters, souffles etc) to go with equally weird but innovative procedures to get a dish into our mouths-al dente, mise en place Bain marie, Sous-vide, blind baking to name a few...Sheesh! ultimately we are all gonna feed on them like lil piglets enjoying a superb time getting dirty in the pigsty! What say?

 At home, when I prepare "Pancakes" it is always with wheat flour, salt and water. I pour the batter onto the hot griddle, draw it out neatly and flip and that's it! Easy peasy...as simple as that! But today as one of the recipes on the BakeAlong is Pancakes, I wondered...how I could spruce it up and make it healthier for my family and incorporate wheat flour instead of APF. SR's recipe on Fondbites is this:-
http://www.fondbites.com/bake-along-83-classic-pancakes/

But I am going to take a huge detour being The Inconsistent Chef from that to make it a healthier version as my family should equally enjoy...to be precise eat them. Thus my version goes like this and may not be the classic recipe to go by, so you are left with both options and do alter the ingredients to that of what your family desires.

I took a cup of whole wheat flour and to it added two tbsps. of Oats, added a pinch of baking soda, half a tsp. of Baking powder, two tsp. of sugar, whisked in an egg, a cup of coconut milk (tetra pack) and a quarter cup of yogurt (you can adjust the coconut milk and yogurt/buttermilk ratio to your liking, you can also replace the coconut milk with ordinary milk) and a tsp. of vanilla essence to counter the smell of the egg. Prepare a smooth batter with the above ingredients and set it aside.

Switch on the flame and let your pancake/dosa tawa/griddle get nice and hot. I used gingelly oil to grease the griddle, you may use melted butter to make it richer for the children. A nice dollop of butter for growing kids is alright!

Scoop a ladleful of the batter and pour it over the hot and well oiled griddle. Flip sides once a side is cooked and browned. Enjoy them warm off the griddle into your serving plate with sauces/jams of your choice. I drizzled a bit of honey for the photograph. You may use maple syrup, fruit compotes or fresh fruits. It is your breakfast, go for it the way you like it.

From my experience, I would add an eight of a tsp. of salt as well to the batter. I could feel the difference. My family would have these pancakes with a nice spicy curry.

I have skewered a few fruits as a fruit Kebab for a dash of freshness to the mundane morning!

As Matt Preston mentioned on MasterChef Australia..."You grow far more when you leave your comfort zone,"...well something similar to this.