Banana Chia Pancakes (dairy, Gluten & Sugar Free)

I've been having a play around with pancake mixtures lately. It all came about after I started making significant changes to my diet (which you can read more about here). I had thought: 'wouldn't it be nice to sail through life without ever needing to enter pancake territory again?', but as it turns out sometimes a person really neeeeds a pancake. Even if it's gluten and dairy free. And they're away from home. Especially if they are at the beach for a scorching week and need a good breakfast boost and a reminder of the fond memories they once shared in a past life with the pancakes of the wheaten variety..

 Surprisingly they were quite good. There seems to be a stigma associated with gluten free baking that conventional bakers snub their noses at (until recently, myself included!). Images of dense, heavy rock muffins and dry, crumbly falling apart cakes come to mind. It was a pleasant discovery that I can still make perfectly good pancakes for myself and the family without the use of wheat. And I'm not saying to eat these all the time for breakfast, they are a wonderful breakfast treat! For those times when we absolutely can't do without.  And when it comes down to it...who are we in the kitchen really, if we don't have a good pancake recipe up our sleeve? Enjoy

Banana Chia Pancakes (gluten, dairy and sugar free)

These pancakes are made with buckwheat flour, mashed banana and chia seeds in the batter. The chia seeds offer a nice crunch but if they are not your thing, feel free to leave them out. Extra liquid may need to be added to the batter while cooking as the chia seeds take on their absorbing qualities. The buckwheat flour really brings a lot to the texture of the pancake, offering a light, fluffy result reminiscent of pancakes from days gone by. No sugar is needed as the banana brings in enough sweetness on its own.
(Serves 2-3).
Ingredients
1  medium, very ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
2 tbs chia seeds (I used white)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup gluten free self-raising flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
almond, soy or other dairy free milk, as required
coconut oil for cooking
To serve: maple syrup, extra banana sliced and chia seeds (optional)
Method
In a medium bowl place the mashed banana, egg, vanilla and chia seeds. Whisk to combine. Add the flours and continue to mix, adding your choice of milk to the batter until desired consistency is reached (thick for pikelets, runny for crepey pancakes..or somewhere in between, like me!).
Heat a little coconut oil in a pan and cook large spoonfuls of the batter over medium heat. Note: they cook really fast! Keep them warm in a folded towel while working your way through the batter, adding more liquid to the mix if the chia seeds are absorbing the moisture too fast.
Serve warm with a drizzle of pure maple syrup, extra banana slices and a sprinkling of chia seeds.