My favorite recipe of the moment -
http://kitteekake.blogspot.mx/2007/09/chickpea-flour-besan-pancakes.html (This link may be blocked, so I've posted the recipe below.)
In my notes below, you'll find my my substitutions. The base recipe is very forgiving. There's lots of wiggle room for creativity.
Here's the original recipe from the website:
Chickpea Flour Pancakes
Makes three large pancakes
1 cup besan/gram flour (Indian chickpea flour)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup water
1/4 lemon, juiced (about two really good squirts of lemon juice)
1 cup chopped veggies (I like 1/4 cup frozen peas, 1/4 cup chopped onion and 1/2 cup tomato)
a chunk of onion to season your skillet.
In a small bowl, mix together the besan, salt, baking soda, and spices.
Add the water and beat well. The besan tends to clump a bit, so you can sift it if you want, but I just beat the lumps out with a fork.
Beat in the lemon juice with a fork.
Stir in the mixed veggies (you can add some chopped cilantro and freshly grated ginger if you have it). Whatever you do, don't taste the batter. Raw chickpea flour tastes terrible!
The easiest way to make these, is to season a cast iron skillet with the cut side of an onion. This is an amazing trick for savory pancakes, and helps the pancakes to pop out of the pan--even if you make these without oil. You could also use a non-stick gizmo for good results. To season, just rub the surface of the pan vigorously with the cut side of an onion, you can also add a touch of oil if you want.
Ladle 1/2 cup of batter at a time into the hot seasoned skillet (cook over medium low heat) and spread the batter out so it's not too thick.
Cook until the bottom is brown and there are bubbles surfacing in the center of the pancake. Flip and cook the other side. These take considerably longer to cook than regular pancakes, so you want them on a lower heat to keep them from burning. I'd say they take at least 5 minutes to cook on each side.
My NotesDue to ingredient limitations, I've had to make a few modifications. For instance, lemons are ridiculously expensive, shriveled and IMHO the yellow color just seems a little bit off (when you can find them), but little key limes are abundant and cheap, so I substituted the juice of fresh squeezed limes for lemon juice.
Additional suggested modifications:
Only use fresh quick cooking veggies, such as chopped spinach, diced onions and tomatoes, & minced ginger and garlic.
Try making the batter a bit thinner than what the recipe calls for. I followed the ratios to the T when I originally tested this recipe, and the batter was too thick. It didn't cook all the way through. So, I used less chickpea flour to thin the batter out.
Try using a blender to mix all the ingredients together except for the veggies. Pour the batter into a med/big bowl and then mix the veggies and batter up real good before ladeling onto a preheated pan.
Garnish with cut chives or cilantro before serving.
I haven't tried it yet, but if you don't have tumeric, you could try using yellow curry powder instead, as it generally contains turmeric as it's main ingredient.
BTW - I tried using the cut onion as an oil substitute, but it didn't work for me, even with one of those new fangled "green" pans I bought on a recent trip to Texas. However, I did use about a half teaspoon of avocado oil (obviously you don't have to use avocado oil, any cooking oil will do just fine) and then I smeared it around in the pan with a paper towel just to makes sure it was coated really well, as I've had issues with "sticking" before.