A healthy makeover to the pancake breakfast, you've got to love it. I'm still on a buckwheat bender. The more I find out about what you can do with this humble seed (and how good for you it is), the more I want to cook. And eat.

I started thinking about pancakes, and was going to make a weekend pancake breakfast using buckwheat flour instead of regular flour. I have that in my pantry anyhow as it's great in baking. So far, so easy. I also had buckwheat groats (the hulled seeds) around, which I usually use in muesli and my oat, chia and buckwheat breakfast bowl. So I started soaking some of those the night before, with some vague notion of using whole groats in the pancake batter.

Then I remembered you can make pancake batter with the soaked groats themselves. Rethink.

Cue Sunday morning. Weary and sleep deprived as per life with a wee babe. Soaked groats ready to go. This seriously couldn't have been an easier breakfast to whip up, even in that state.

I really adore tamarillos and they're in season right now. I had a batch of tamarillo and apple compote in the fridge which was perfect with these nutty flavoured pancakes. And to top it off, I treated myself to a jar of Raglan Coconut Yoghurt this week. Oh my. It's a love story. Snowy white, creamy and tangy, it's some kind of perfection. It's pretty expensive so I can't see it becoming a regular in my kitchen, but it is amazingly delicious.

Back to the pancakes. They're not the light and fluffy white pancakes you're used to, but they do have a lovely texture and lightness, and they partner well with all the usual toppings. I really encourage you to give them a try.

And let's not forget the health benefits of eating soaked seeds and nuts. I'm still learning about this and am no great expert, but I understand it significantly increases the nutritional value of the seeds and your body's ability to absorb them. Bonus.

I suspect this recipe could easily be made vegan by using an egg replacer like chia or flax seed, but I haven't experimented with this yet. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

You need to start this recipe the night before (to soak the buckwheat), and you'll need a food processor or high speed blender.

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Buckwheat pancakes with tamarillo and apple compote

A healthy makeover to the pancake breakfast, you've got to love it.

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Prep time: 15

Cook time: 20

Total time: 35

Course: Breakfasts

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories:

Author: Quite Good Food

INGREDIENTS

For the pancakes:

1 cup buckwheat groats
1-2 cups soy milk (or milk of your choice)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon optional
1 tablespoon maple syrup optional
Zest of an orange optional
2 teaspoon baking powder check label if gluten free
2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

For the tamarillo and apple compote:

3 tamarillos
3 apples I used granny smiths
2 star anise
2 tablespoon raw sugar
A strip of orange zest
Juice of an orange

INSTRUCTIONS

For the pancakes:

The night before your pancake feast, put the buckwheat in a bowl or jug and cover with plenty of water. Give it a stir to ensure it all sinks and is covered by water. Leave the bowl on the bench at room temperature overnight.
The next morning the volume of the buckwheat will have almost doubled. Drain it in a sieve and give it a good rinse under a tap. It'll be a bit slimy - this is nothing to worry about, it's just starch released during the soaking process and it'll easily rinse away.
Start heating your frypan over a medium heat. I added a lick of coconut oil.
Tip the buckwheat into your food processor or blender. Add milk until it comes up to the same level as the buckwheat, or just covers it.
Add eggs, cinnamon, maple syrup and orange zest. Blend until the batter is pretty smooth. The soaked buckwheat blends easily, so this will only take 30 seconds or so.
Add baking powder and vinegar, then briefly blend to combine. The acid activates the baking powder, so you want to do this just before you start cooking the pancakes.
Pour batter into your frypan and cook as per usual for pancakes, flipping when you see small bubbles appearing in the surface and the bottom is golden brown.
Makes about 10 small pancakes.

For the tamarillo and apple compote:

Tamarillos are hard to peel with a peeler, but easy if you blanch them first. Cut a cross in their bottoms, drop them into boiling water for a minute, then remove and drop them into cold water. The skin will then peel off easily by hand.
Add peeled and chopped apples, chopped tamarillos, spices, sugar, orange zest and juice to a sauce pan. Cook over a low to medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the tamarillos have released their gorgeous ruby red juices and the apples are cooked. I prefer my fruit to still have some texture to it, rather than cooking it into a puree.
I then stir through the fruit and pick out the whole spices and orange zest. Biting into a whole clove isn't that nice. You could use ground cloves if you can't be bothered with this - maybe half a teaspoon.
Cool and keep in the fridge until you need it, or eat it hot straight away if you just can't wait.
Makes about two cups.