Brown Rice Pancakes ♥

Today's recipe: Pancakes for supper, a Shrove Tuesday "Pancake Day" tradition. Made with cooked brown rice and corn meal.

We interrupt this recipe for a Missouri weather report: Two January Sundays warm enough for raking leaves in shirt sleeves. And now, two weeks in a row, two 24-hour periods ranging from hot 70s to hard snow. Despite 8 inches of that fluffy white stuff I love just four days ago, yesterday people filled the streets in shorts and t-shirts, and kids, bare feet even -- 75 it was.

Faced with such a winter, what's a seasonal cook who chooses salads on summery days and soup on wintry ones to do? Well, on a Tuesday in February, this Tuesday in February, this day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, whatever the weather, there's just one thing for supper and that's pancakes. It's a Christian tradition but perhaps more specifically Episcopalian according to my 20-some year long friend Lisa (now the brand-new Portland food blogger at My Own Sweet Thyme) who shared her recipe for Overnight Pancakes this week. No matter: pancakes for supper, it's a good tradition, faith aside.

And no, there are no 'vegetables' in these pancakes but they are based on leftover oven-baked rice (both brown rice and wild rice), so 'plant' food shall suffice for today -- nutty and flavorful, steamy hot and substantial both. I would make these again in a heartbeat -- and of course will be back to vegetables tomorrow.

So Shrove Tuesday pancakes it is, then tomorrow I'll plant Lenten grass, another old tradition, this one from Finland and a lovely way to mark the quiet season of Lent with children. Too bad Ash Wednesday comes quite so very early this year, I'd hoped to share flowers blooming on the Lenten Rose in the front garden, perhaps soon, after another summery day, another snowfall.

BEATING EGG WHITES You know how they say that egg whites won't beat if any yolk or another fat gets mixed in? Well, they're half right. My egg-cracking was sloppy (who else finds that the shells on farm-raised eggs are less predictable crackers than those from the grocery?) and a fair measure of yolk slipped into the whites. I decided to beat them anyway, just to see. And truth is, even cold (and egg whites do whip higher when warm, a good thing to remember when making meringue) the whites tripled in volume, more frothy than whipped, but still. I wouldn't use them for meringue but they were plenty light enough to thin and lighten a heavy pancake batter quite well.

MORE SHROVE TUESDAY TRADITIONS Lenten Buns from Estonia First Cookbook from an English girl Swedish Lenten Buns (Semla) from Sweden Traditional Irish Pancakes from Ireland Mo's Famous Pancakes, from America

FOR THE RECORD This recipe is inspired by the Peruvian food blog Canela & Comino.

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PIE LOVERS KitchenParade.com is hosting a special event for Pi Day on March 14th. (Get it?)

Yes, we're baking pies for Pi Day, focusing our entries on the fine art of homemade pie crusts and collecting all our best pie recipes and our tips for making great pie crust.

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PANCAKE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES
~ Carrot Buttermilk Pancakes ~
~ Potato Pancakes ~
~ Potato Latkes ~
~ Cucumber Pancakes ~

~ Cottage Cheese Pancakes from Kitchen Parade,
plus my mom's favorite pancake mix and how it came to be ~

~ more Lent & Easter recipes from Kitchen Parade,
including a great selection of meatless recipes ~
~ more rice recipes ~

~ one year ago today, Curried Tomato Soup ~
~ two years ago today, Lentil, Pepper & Spinach Supper,
"this vegetarian supper was absolutely delicious!" ~

BROWN RICE PANCAKES

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 25 minutes
Makes 8 pancakes

DRY INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used more cornmeal)
2 tablespoons sugar (the inspiring recipe uses just 1)
1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 cup cooked brown rice (if you like, made with wild rice, how to cook brown rice in the oven)
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup skim milk (I used part buttermilk, part cream, what was on hand)

2 egg whites, whipped til frothy

Maple syrup (traditional)
Cranberry sauce (very good)

In a food processor, whiz the dry ingredients once or twice, just enough to mix. Add the rice, yolks, butter and milk and process til just blended. Fold batter mixture into the egg whites. (The batter is quite thick. If I'd had more milk I would have thinned it a little.)

Butter a large skillet and heat til shimmery. Add dollops of pancake batter to the skillet, using a spatula to flatten a bit if needed. Cook til brown on one side, just a couple of minutes. Flip and continue cooking til brown.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Pancake: 223 Cal (25% from Fat, 12% from Protein, 63% from Carb); 7 g Protein; 6 g Tot Fat; 3 g Sat Fat; 2 g Mono Fat; 35 g Carb; 1 g Fiber; NetCarb34; 3 g Sugar; 58 mg Calcium; 2 mg Iron; 183 mg Sodium; 63 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 4 points

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