THE BATTER
100g oats
a good handful of pecan nuts (about 50g), roughly chopped
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
1 ripe banana, peeled and mashed
150ml coconut milk or almond milk (see note above)
a 200g punnet of blueberries
TO SERVE
2 bananas, peeled and cut into thin slices
a little coconut oil or butter
a few pecan nuts, crumbled
lime wedges
honey or agave syrup
First turn the oven to 120°C/fan 100°C/gas ½ to keep everything warm.
Blitz the oats until you have a scruffy oat flour. Add to a bowl with the pecans and throw in the baking powder and salt.
Mix the mashed banana with the milk (you can do this by blitzing them together in the food processor, if you like). Beat the banana mixture into the flour and leave the batter to sit for a few minutes.
Heat a non-stick pan on a medium heat, then add the banana slices and fry on both sides in the dry pan until brown and caramelised. Keep warm in the oven.
Put the pan back on a medium heat and add a little coconut oil or butter. Drop in a healthy tablespoonful of batter for each pancake. Once the sides are cooked and bubbles have risen to the top, scatter over a handful of blueberries and flip the pancake over. Cook for another couple of minutes on the other side. The pancakes will stay a little moist in the middle because of the banana, so don’t worry. Keep them warm in the oven while you cook the rest.
Serve the pancakes piled with the banana slices. Add some crumbled pecans and a squeeze of lime, and, if you like, a little touch of honey, agave or maple syrup.
A scoop of coconut and banana ice cream turns these into a feel-good pudding too (see here).
Cherry poppy seed waffles
Like bottomless coffee and inch-deep maple syrup and waitresses with name badges, waffles are very American territory to me. I started making them at home last year – I bought a £20 waffle iron and I haven’t looked back, as there is something so good about their crispy chequered exterior. They are quick and easy to make and more consistent than pancakes, and the waffle iron stays squeaky clean, so no washing up. This is my poppy seed-flecked version. I make these waffles with a mixture of oats or quinoa, whizzed to a floury dust in the food processor, but straight up wholemeal flour works well too.
Cherries are hands down my favourite fruit. When British cherries start filling my basket they are all I eat for breakfast until they are gone again. They’re high in iron, so they are useful for people cutting back on iron-rich meats. I keep pitted cherries in the freezer to use all year round, and you can buy good frozen ones from most supermarkets too. These are equally good with raspberries mashed with a little rosewater in place of the cherries.
Instead of using eggs here you can make these pancakes using the incredibly clever natural binding qualities of chia seeds. What I like best about chia seeds is how they work in baking and sweet things. You can use them in place of eggs in almost all baking, just mix 1 tablespoon of chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water for each egg and leave to soak for a few minutes until you have a gloopy mix. I like the crunch of the chia seeds in my cake but if you want to you could grind them to a powder in your food processor before mixing with the water. This mixture works in all the baking in this book, just don’t try scrambling them!
MAKES 8 WAFFLES
FOR THE CHERRIES
500g pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
2 tablespoons honey
FOR THE BATTER
200g oats
4 tablespoons light brown sugar or coconut sugar (see here)
1 tablespoon baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds, plus extra to serve
200ml natural yoghurt or coconut milk yoghurt
150ml milk of your choice
3 organic or free-range eggs (or see note on chia)
grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
butter or coconut oil, for cooking
TO SERVE
honey
Put the cherries and honey into a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer, then cook for 10 minutes, until just softened, slightly sticky and deep crimson.
Put your waffle iron on a very low heat to warm up. I cook using a gas hob, which heats the waffle iron quite quickly, but you may need to wait a little longer if you have an electric or induction hob. You could use an electric waffle maker set to medium too.
Whiz the oats in a food processor until you have a fine powder, then put into a bowl with the sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds. In a jug, whisk the yoghurt, milk, eggs and lemon zest. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat until you have a smooth, thick batter, then pour into a jug to make it easier to fill your waffle iron.
Turn the heat up a little on your waffle iron. Drop a knob of butter or coconut oil on to the base of it and use a brush to persuade it around the iron squares. Flip the iron and do the same for the other side.
Spoon one ladleful of mixture into one side of your hot iron and close the lid. Leave for 2 minutes to crisp up, then flip for another 3 minutes. The waffles are ready once they’re an even golden brown and come away from the sides easily.
Serve with the warm cherries, a sprinkling of poppy seeds and a spoonful of yoghurt and a drizzle of honey.
Dosa-spiced potato cakes with quick cucumber pickle
The best breakfast I have ever eaten was a masala dosa in Fort Cochin, Kerala. This is how I like to work the deep, fragrant, southern Indian flavours into my day. It’s an anytime dish with big flavour hitters in the shape of curry leaves and black mustard seeds, which give the potato the warm subtle punch that is the deeply clever balance of southern Indian food. This is how I almost always use up my leftover mashed potato. Any root veg mash works well here but I find potato takes on the flavours best.
Mashing avocado with these spices is a revelation – I eat this on toast at least once a week.
If curry leaves aren’t easy to get, you can just leave them out. However, curry leaves are wonderful, and if you haven’t come across them before, try to get your hands on some. They have a curious but delicious flavour, and add depth in a way that is difficult to explain, much like a truffle does. I buy a few packets whenever I see them – a lot of supermarkets stock them these days. Store them in a sandwich bag in the freezer and tumble a few out as you need them. They are addictive and also very good for you. They can be mixed with lime and a pinch of sugar in hot water to aid digestion.
SERVES 4
FOR THE POTATO CAKES
olive or coconut oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
10 curry leaves
4 large potatoes, boiled, drained and coarsely mashed, or 4 big spoons of leftover mash
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE AVOCADO
2 ripe avocados, halved and destoned