'Breadfruit is the food of the future..it is full of nutrients and energy' quotes several authorities and NGOs in Haiti. I've been trying to look for some Breadfruit flour and Cassava flour based recipes, but in vain, these two gluten free flours have only recently become increasingly available.
Haiti have recently started trying to produce
Breadfruit flour on a large scale, firstly to reduce imports, being a relatively poor country importing most of its food. Its great to read about stories like this! Haiti is focusing on using one of its widely available but under-used resources to help improve several macroeconomic phenomenons such as unemployment or imported inflation with the aim of benefit the whole community in the long run.
For the case of
Cassava flour,
Indonesia is taking the initiative, focusing on increasing Cassava plantation as the latter can be used in the production of glue, chewing gum, plywood as well as a variety of food items.
I somehow ended up reading research papers from these two countries, experimenting with these flours. Most papers were based on trying to further incorporate these flours into the respective domestic markets' consumption pattern, aiming for self-sufficiency in flour production. They focused on a range of stable foods such as breads, cakes and traditional biscuits. Researchers experimented by producing these goods with different ratios of flour and from there, analyzing their effects on the final goods. I can only imagine how interesting such a job would be, a great combination of food and economics- sounds like my dream job !
Anyways, I feel like I'm blabbing on a bit! But bringing all this to the Mauritian context, its great to see that the government has put in place a scheme to produce Breadfruit flour on a national level, has already launched 'Breadfruit villages' and is now considering several schemes linked to Cassava production.
What better way to try these flours then by making some
pancakes?!
I just wanted to try very basic pancakes, with no other mix of flours, just to understand what texture they would produce and whether they had any strong flavour on their own. Breadfruit was not so much of a success, there was a very strong aftertaste and the flour produced a batter that was slightly heavier and more dense than normal wheat flour pancakes.
However, the cassava pancakes were great! They were the
fluffiest, lightest and most delish I've made to date! I added banana to my batch because it makes for fluffy thick American style pancakes but you could also make crepes without the addition of mashed bananas. These will definitely be a staple in my freezer, especially for my gluten intolerant mama!
LIGHT & FLUFFY CASSAVA/BANANA PANCAKES
For about 5 thick pancakes
- 25 g cassava flour (I bought mine at Winners and the brand is 'Sarjua')
- 1 small banana (mashed)
- 1 egg (or if you want a substitute, try 1 tbsp of ground flax/lin seeds + 3 tbsps water- works great!)
- Cinnamon (my cinnamon obsession continues!)
- Half a tsp of baking powder
- Couple of drops of milk
- Stir everything except the milk together to form a smooth batter. If it is slightly too thick, add a few drops of milk to the desired consistency (cake batter-like)
- Pour the dollops of batter onto a hot pan, wait for it to bubble before flipping, they take about a minute or so on each side.
Hard to get a good picture of plain pancakes, but do give these a go, especially if you are gluten intolerant, you will not be dissapointed !!!
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