Thursday, November 02, 2006

Devilishly yummy kabocha pumpkin pancakes

My sister and I work at the same travel agency/airline now so it means I get lots of rides home and Wednesday nights she sleeps over instead of doing the long drive back to my hometown and back the next morning. It also means I get to cook up breakfast. I still had half a Kabocha squash in my fridge that had no purpose in life. The poor thing looked downright dejected. This morning I found a purpose for it!

So regardless if Halloween is over, please allow me to dazzle you with yet another pumpkin recipe!

Devilishly yummy kabocha pumpkin pancakes



½ Kabocha Squash, cubed, peel taken off with a paring knife.
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Spelt flour (or just go for full on whole wheat if you don’t have spelt)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ - ½ teaspoon cardamom
¼ - ½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Place the cubed & peeled squash in a steamer for 20-25 minutes until really tender. When the squash is ready, mash it down into a measuring cup until you have 1 cup. Place it into a blender along with soy milk and maple syrup and blend on high speed for 30 seconds.

In a large bowl, sift together the whole wheat flour, spelt flour, baking powder and spices. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Lightly oil a non stick frying pan with a bit of safflower oil and follow your usual pancake making technique.

These were sooo delicious topped with maple syrup! And quite quick to make once the squash was out of the steamer.

17 comments:

aTxVegn said...

I bet you did say goodbye to those yummy looking pumpkin pancakes! How thoughtful of you to give life back to your Kabocha. Your sister has got quite a good deal!

Candi said...

I think your sister may find reasons to stay more than one time per week! I love the breakfast you made, and the pretty fruit salad too!

Ouija! (You knew someone would say something about that!) I have a circular ouija board and want to make it into a little serving tray or a side table. It's pretty big. I like how it looks in your photo. It would not be complete though without the pumpkin pancakes on it! :)

Thanks for the recipe! :) :)

Anonymous said...

Love the Ouija board backdrop! Too clever. Great idea to use up that Kabocha. Your sister is one lucky gal.

bazu said...

That pancake looks fabulous, the right color, texture, everything. Oh, please don't stop posting pumpkin recipes because halloween is over! I love squash and pumpkin food of all kinds- keep 'em coming!

Nikk said...

I have this insane picture in my head of the pancake spelling out messages on the Oujia board. That would be great in a movie, right?

This recipe looks darn tasty. I love squash, but I can't ever really cut into it properly. Any tips?

JENNA said...

i love the use of the ouija board. what a great picture and yummy looking pancakes..i might try them this weekend. thanks

JENNA

Ben Kaelan said...

atxvegn: I've got a sweet deal too; not having to take the bus is actually the sweetest deal of all!

Candi: the funniest part was that I totally just grabbed the board on a whim; we were so hungry and I just so wanted to get the photo done and over with.... A circular board! Cool! I found this website once with all sorts of Ouija designs... I'm more of a tarot reader myself... the Ouija board is just there as decoration in my apartment.

VivaciousVegan: I think the Kabocha squash has become my favorite squash of all :)

Bazu: You should have SMELLED it... it SMELLED better than it looked and tasted... loved the smell!! As long as there are squashes at the grocery store I'll keep using them! It's so sad they only come around once a year.

Nikki: Pancakes spelling out things on ouija boards? I think you had too much halloween candy hun. :) Cutting into a swash involves a really really good knife. The way I do it is I get the knife in as much as I can and I bash the whole thing (knife stuck in squash contraption) onto a chopping board and eventually the knife will make it's way through,... does that make sense? Maybe I'll have to make a video demonstration someday :)

Jenna: Welcome to my blog! If you try my pancakes I wanna see pictures!! Please :) I haven't yet seen any of my creations from someone else's hands. I think that would be cool. :)

-toph. said...

watch me chai to make a chai surprise this weekend!

Candi said...

Tarot!! Hoo!! I love Tarot cards! We have many decks, including a Halloween deck. Lol! On Halloween night, we got a spider candle out and acted like we knew what we were doing with the cards, and did a reading for each other. I asked if I should really move to Boston, and the Halloween Tarot reading was all for it...so I'm doing it with confidence now. Funny what little cartoon black cats on Tarot cards can inspire! Lol!

I never use the Ouija either, but I like the look of them! I will use mine as decoration though! :)

bazu said...

Ben! I made your pancakes this morning and they were delicious! And the best part was, after eating them for a late breakfast, I'm still not hungry (4-5 hours later...) I've been out raking leaves and cleaning the yard, so your pancakes are fantastic fuel in addition to being yummy!

KleoPatra said...

These look SO good!!! I'm dazzled.

Anonymous said...

Those look fantastic !
I haven't seen Kabocha Squash anywhere here but maybe I could try with another squash ?

Loved the decorative Ouija Board too !

Valentina said...

Ben, if you come to the netherlands i'll be happy to tell you some nice places to go. holland is not really a vegan country but in amsterdam you'll find some good vegan stuff. i'll let you know soon!

Ben Kaelan said...

Candi: I have seen that halloween deck and it's super cute. Have never bought it through. I own two deck; one is from the 70's and was given to me by my aunt. It's the one I use the most. It's an older version of the classic Rider Waite deck.

Bazu: OMG! I think you're the first person to officially make one of my creations!! I hope you took photos!!! :) I wanna see I wanna see!! :) I want details! did you follow the recipe exactly or did you induce some of your flare into the recipe?? :)

Kleopatra: Thank you :) I aim to dazzle :)

Gaia: What do you know... I found the perfect website for you. You can learn all about squashes right here. Kabocha squashes have many names such as Japanese Pumpkin and Sweet Mama Squash (I noticed Loblaws calls it Sweet Mama). I would maybe try this with the buttercup squash before I'd try it with a butternut squash... It's just a hunch... but yea... otherwise I think buttercup would work okay. Or maybe an actual pumpkin but I don't know how well that steams?

Valentina: My trip got pushed back to January but I can't wait to go. There's this chain in Amsterdam I've been to in London called MAOZ Falafel... I LOVE THAT PLACE! and there are like 8 in Amsterdam:) I can't wait to see what other suggestions you give me :)

urban vegan said...

Your pumpkin pancakes look bewitchingly good.

We have a MAOZ here in Philly. Yummy. Lucky us.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link Ben !
Very informative :)

Joachim von Kieselhorst said...

Strange, the recipe didn't work for us. The pancakes neither became crispy nor did they stay in shape at all. Probably our squashes were bigger than yours.