Sunday mornings are often brunch mornings for our family. We each like to pick out a few recipes in the breakfast and lunch category, and then add some raw juice or smoothie shots, and specialty organic teas. Today was extra special because it is the first day of March, which for me is birthday month! We celebrate birthdays for a whole month in the Rawganic household and this one happens to be mine!!! I love birthdays, holidays and just any celebration in general.
My picks for this morning were the Vegan Ceasar salad with Roasted Garlic Maple Chickpeas I posted earlier, Pink Dragonfruit pancakes, and some mango ginger lilikoi smoothie shots. Followed bu Tulsi Rose Petal tea. It was a SPECTACULAR way to kick off the month! We ended the day attending a Nakho and Medicine for the People Concert which was truly magical. I highly recommend going to see them if they come to your town. But back to the food.
I’m a huge fan of dragonfruit, and living on a tropical island, it is relatively easy to get year round. I love all varieties, white, yellow and pink. But when I use it in pancakes, I actually prefer to use the organic raw frozen Pitaya packs that are sold in health food stores and some grocery stores. The reason is that once defrosted, the dragonfruit is a beautifully hued liquid puree. Of course you can take a fresh dragonfruit and puree it in the food processor and essentially come up with the same thing, but the packs are extremely convenient and always available for you when the urge for a pink pancake strikes. And trust me, once you try these, the urge will strike often.
If you want, for extra effect, you can add in a few chunks of whole dragonfruit just as you would do with banana pancakes.
The flavor in these pancakes is so divine that they don’t need much in the way of toppings. On these pancakes we generally use a little bit of grade B maple syrup, or a drizzle of melted coconut butter with a dash of shredded coconut. Simple. And Sublime. If you can’t find fresh dragonfruit or the frozen Pitaya packs, you can always use acai instead. Again, I would go with a frozen acai pack and defrost it. The flavor is much stronger than using the powder and fresh raw acai fruit is a challenge for many people to source.
So happy March everyone and here is the recipe!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose, gluten free flour (you can also use oats and just grind into a flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup almond milk (can use other non-dairy milk or even water)
- 1 packet of Pitaya Plus Raw Organic Dragonfruit, defrosted to liquid consistency
- 1 tbsp. ground flax +3 tbsp. water (whisk together and then let sit for a few minutes)
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil, divided
DIRECTIONS
Whisk the almond milk, dragonfruit puree, flax mixture and 1 tbsp of the melted coconut oil in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients and gently mix until combined. DO NOT overmix. Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a skillet. Add the batter in small spoonfuls and let the pancakes cook until small bubbles appear on the surface. Flip and continue cooking until cooked through. Serve!
