Mango Pancakes

What to eat for breakfast when you have no soy milk, no bread, and a pile of mangoes? While you could just eat, well, mangoes, our extreme glut led to a bit more creativity in terms of how we consume them.  Thus, the idea for mango pancakes was born.  These are fluffy and orange, and perfect topped with more mango.

I will post the recipe as I made it, but note that I didn't add any sugar - I thought the mangoes would be sweet enough.  And if we had used Bowen mangoes, they probably would have been.  Instead, we used the variety royal red mango, which is less sweet.  So next time I make these I will add just a touch of sugar - maybe a tablespoon - to the batter, to enhance the flavour of the mango a bit.  Use your judgement, and your taste preferences.

Also, if you don't have fresh (or frozen) mango on hand to blend up, I suspect mango juice will work perfectly - you just may need to reduce the amount of water that goes into the batter, because the juice won't be as thick as the puree. If you're feeling decadent and have fresh coconut juice around, I think that would make a fantastic substitution for the plain water.

Mango Pancakes
serves 2 hungry adults

1 1/2 c. plain flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. pureed mango
3/4 to 1 c. water
2 Tbsp. rice bran oil (or other plain-tasting veg. oil)

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.  In a separate jug, stir mango, 3/4 c. water and oil together.  Add the mango mixture to the flour and stir until just mixed.  If the batter is too thick, add additional water as needed.  It should be pretty thick - these are fluffy pancakes - but it should be viscous enough to pour, just.

Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat up your pan - preferably cast iron or non-stick. Lightly brush it with a coating of oil.  When it's good and hot, pour a small spoonful of batter into the pan.  The first pancake never works well for me, so I get around this by making it a really tiny one.  While you're eating the test-pancake, pour a larger amount of batter into the pan and spread it slightly into a circle.  I use a serving spoon for this, as I find it gives me the right amount of batter for easily-flippable pancakes.

The pancakes are ready to flip when the edges look dry and you can see bubbles in the surface.  If you're not sure, peek under the edge.  Flip, and watch the pancakes puff up and go super-fluffy.  When the other side is brown, transfer to a plate and keep warm in the oven while you finish the rest of the batch.

Serve warm, with more mango, or with a tropical-ish jam, or with some kind of syrup.