Leftover Millet Pancakes

Made the rest of the glutinous millet yesterday and have tons of leftovers. So this morning I made some up into true millet pancakes. Picture shows the pancakes served with a mushroom-tomato-leek omelet and liver (today's breakfast).

Courtney's Leftover Millet Pancakes
(Makes 6)

1/2 c millet flour
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 egg
1 c cooked millet
1/2 c milk
2T melted bacon fat (or melted butter)

With an electric hand mixer, thoroughly combine the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg and add the millet, milk, and fat. Mix very well on medium-high speed until the millet has no clumps.

Heat a griddle and grease it well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, beating all the while. Beat until thoroughly mixed. As soon as possible after beating, pour the pancake batter onto the griddle using a ladle or large spoon. Cook until bubbles break open and do not seal on the top of the pancake and the bottom is medium-brown. Flip and cook until browned. Serve hot with syrup or a savory sauce.

Cooking Notes
I used glutinous millet, but I think regular millet would be fine. Regular millet is a bit dryer, so you might want to add more liquid or to soak the millet in the milk for a while to soften it.
If you're not minimizing gluten, you can substitute wheat flour for the millet flour and xanthan gum.

Eating Notes
We had these for breakfast with a little maple syrup. Because they are not sweetened, they also would be good with a creamed seafood or similar sauce. Millet is one of the grains I'm moving away from, but if I weren't I would definitely have these again.

Seafood and Veggie Chickpea Flour Pancakes

Saw this recipe in the "Dining and Wine" section of the New York Times and decided to adapt it to my gluten-reduced diet and pantry contents. Made it for breakfast, and it also would be a very nice brunch or luncheon dish. Picture shows Phil's, served with three eggs over medium-hard.

Seafood and Veggie Chickpea Flour Pancakes
(makes 6 approx. 4" pancakes)

1 c chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour (found at organic-focused supermarkets and coops)
1/4 t xanthan gum (ditto)
1/2 t baking powder (check to be sure it is gluten-free if this is a concern for you)
Salt and fresh pepper to taste
1 c water
Enough raw sea scallops and shrimp to make 1/2 c chopped with one extra peeled shrimp and 1/2 scallop per person for garnish
2/3 chopped cooked summer vegetables (I used some leftover zucchini and yellow squash) split into two 1/3 c portions
1 scallion, chopped fine
3T chopped fresh herbs (I used basil), divided equally among the two chopped vegetable portions.
2T mascarpone or softened cream cheese
ghee for frying

Heat some ghee on a skillet. Cut the scallop in half crosswise so that you have two disks. Saute the scallop and shrimp until just barely done (it will continue cooking after you take it off the heat). Remove and reserve.

Take one of the portions of vegetables and basil and saute in the ghee left behind by the seafood until well warmed. Remove and reserve, keeping warm.

In a bowl and using an electric hand mixer, thoroughly blend the dry ingredients. While still beating, add the water and continue beating until well mixed. Using a spoon, stir in the chopped seafood and the unwarmed portion of vegetables and basil just until mixed.

Put a generous amount of ghee on the griddle. When hot, make the pancakes, using the spoon to keep the batter mixed. Cook until nicely browned, approximately 3 minutes on each side.

Plate the pancakes. Mix the mascarpone in with the reserved sauteed vegetables and spread over. Place the scallop disk on top, and the cooked shrimp on top of that. Serve hot.

Eating Notes: The pancakes were an excellent combination of filling but light, which is why I think they would be perfect as luncheon/brunch dishes. It also was a good way to use up some leftover veggies. Tomatoes and mushrooms would have been nice additions, and could have been used instead of the seafood to make a vegetarian dish. Another thing I like about the recipe is that the finished pancakes taste like their own thing, not like something that is a gluten-free pretender to a wheat flour dish.

Millet - Rice Cakes

Felt like something substantial for breakfast, but still trying to avoid the gluten. My white (1975) Joy of Cooking had a recipe for rice flour "pancakes" but I wanted something a little bit more robust, and I thought I could improve things with some xanthan gum. I was right. While these look a lot like pancakes they are made differently and they taste like their own thing (see Eating Notes below)

Recipe:

Millet-Rice Cakes
Makes 10 cakes; recipe can be doubled

1/2 c white or brown rice flour
1/2 c millet flour
2-1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt (really! It will not taste too salty)
1 t light brown sugar or maple sugar (not syrup)

1 c milk
1 md - lg egg
1 T butter

fat as needed for frying

Melt the butter. Beat the egg in a small bowl.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and then sift. Do not skip the sifting step.

Using an electric hand beater, beat the dry ingredients while slowly adding the milk. Be sure everything is well mixed. Beat in the egg and melted butter. The batter may look a little thin. Do not worry.

Using a large spoon, pour the pancakes onto a hot, greased griddle. Mix the batter in a folding motion as you do this, as it may start to separate slightly. Flip when bubbly on top. Serve hot with topping of your choice.

Eating Notes: A success. While they can stand in for pancakes, they didn't taste at all like fake wheat pancakes. The texture was fluffy and a little crisp, and the inside had the distinct warm grain taste of millet. The cakes were perfect for breakfast with a bit of syrup or jam. Because of the millet, they also would be good as a foil to creamed shrimp or seafood or something similar. I would still add the small amount of brown/maple sugar; it added overtones but wasn't enough to make the cakes noticeably sweet.