Chocolate Pancakes - Some Mardi gras Indulgence!

The post is obviously late, for Mardi gras was two days ago! But, how can I post a recipe before I have experimented it out and what better day to indulge on pancakes than Shrove Tuesday? 

With Lent, the annual period of penance, vow and fasting, around the corner, traditional Christians change gears to consume simpler meals, adopt vegetarianism (or at least abstinence from red meat) and spend a considerable part of the days in praying for forgiveness and reflecting on the sacrifice of Christ for redeeming humankind. So, in a final attempt to stock up on fats and other gastronomic delicacies, before the commencement of the 40 day fasting period on Ash Wednesday, they have a ball of a time finishing up all the rich and fatty food-stuff at home. The celebrations reach a pinnacle of Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding the Lenten season, variously known as Pancake day, Fat Tuesday and Mardi gras. 

The association of pancakes with this Christian celebration goes back to medieval Ireland, a country with a sizable Catholic population, where some clever bakers made it a practice to clean out their larders and pantries of eggs, milk and butter by making stacks and stacks of pancakes on Fat Tuesday and inviting customers to have a go. The tradition stuck on and today, it is not a surprise for people to be more aware of Pancake day than Shrove Tuesday. Pancake races are held at various locations in the commonwealth countries and people eat the delicacy by the tonne. 

So last Tuesday, with true Lenten spirit, in an attempt to follow the 40 day fatty-food-abstinence for spirituo-vanity reasons, I thought I should whip up some pancakes too. And what followed was several rounds of soft-fluffy pancakes and 8 hours of sound sleep!

CHOCOLATE PANCAKES (Makes 8-10 Pancakes)
Set-up Time : 10 minutes

Experiment Run-Time : 3 minutes per pancake

The Shopping List

          Set 1: Dry ingredients
          Wheat Flour : 3/4 cup
          All Purpose Flour : 1/2 Cup

          Cocoa Powder : 4 tsp
          Ground Cinnamon : 1/2 tsp
          Baking Powder : 1.5 tsp
          Brown Sugar : 1 Tbsp
          Salt : a pinch
          Vanilla Essence : 1 tsp
          Fresh Ground Flax Seeds : 1 Tbsp

          

          Set 2: Wet Ingredients

          Milk : 1 cup
          Yoghurt : 2 Tbsp
          Vanilla Essence : a few drops

Methodology

1. Place all the dry ingredients (except the flax seeds) in a mixing bowl and with a whisk or with your fingers, mix them together until they are well-combined.

2. Add the yoghurt and slowly add the milk, gently whisking as you do so. Add sufficient milk to form a batter of pouring consistency. When you let the batter drop from a ladle, it should fall in ribbons.

3. Before giving a final whisk, add the vanilla essence and the flax seeds. Mix one last time to evenly distribute the final ingredients.

4. Place a non-stick skillet on the stove and when sufficiently hot drop a half cup of batter at the center of the skillet. If the batter was made right, it would spread just a little to give a pancake of about 5 inches diameter.

5. When you notice bubbles on the tops surface, flip the pancake and cook the other side for 30-45 seconds. Remove from the skillet and stack it up one on top of the other. Serve hot.

Stacks with Caramel Ice cream

I had my pancakes in short-stacks of three with chocolate syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream. For the cream, I sort of lost patience when it took nearly 15 minutes of whisking cream to form peaks, but the effort was so worth it. Some of the batter even survived for the next day, when I made myself a couple of pancakes and topped them with my oh-this-is-unbelievable homemade caramel ice cream. You could also try it with some fresh berries, yogurt or honey. So much for my Lenten fast.