Vegan Matcha Coconut Pancakes

You should make these pancakes tomorrow. I've given up on subliminal messaging, in case you couldn't tell. Make them. It's Sunday tomorrow, which is an Excellent Day for Pancakes. Even better, for many peeps it's also a bank holiday on Monday, so you can make them tomorrow as a sort of practice run for making them again on Monday. Plus, they taste great. Need I offer any more brilliantly inspired persuasion? (That's rhetorical.)

For those not in the know, matcha is powdered green tea leaves which, when turned into a drink/edible creation of some description, is (apparently) 137 times as potent as plain old green tea using a tea bag. This is partly because you are actually consuming the leaves (in their ground up and dissolved form) rather than infusing the water then throwing the bag away (i.e. normal tea), and partly because matcha powder goes through a rigorous process of rites and rituals on the snowiest of mountain tops and in the earthiest of valleys, all before making its way to you.

Just kidding, that last part's not actually true. It's all to do with the chlorophyll production creating more vitamins, amino acids, antioxidants and other fun things. Not quite as fun as a matcha pilgrimage, but pretty cool all the same.

The matcha powder I used in these pancakes is from Eat Clean Tea, who I instantly liked because of the statement on their website saying they are "sick of seeing teatoxes everywhere". YOU AND ME BOTH, EAT CLEAN TEA. Juice cleanses, a-okay. Teatoxes? No thank you very much.

Anyway, they have been holding a competition recently (#SummerOfMatcha), looking for inventive ways to use their matcha powder. As a fully converted matcha fan, my fridge was already stocked with plain matcha powder (yep pro tip: matcha powder should be kept in the fridge), so for the competition I was conveniently sent their mint flavour. Naturally, observant me didn't actually notice this until I tried the pancakes for the first time and, surprisingly enough, tasted mint. Upon checking the packaging more carefully, I realised my tastebuds were not deceiving me and there was indeed a mint flavour. My career as a private detective is sure to take off soon.

If you want to know more about matcha (and specifically the one I used) then you can read up on it here, but the basics are that it contains lots of good things, it won't make you poo constantly like a teatox would (and therefore won't affect any medication or anything like teatoxes do), it will pep you up with a good dose of caffeine, it is said to boost metabolism and fat-burning by sending more calories to energy (according to the University of Geneva and the American Journal of Nutrition), and it tastes great (according to me).

these need a drizzle of something...

AHA, yes. Perfect. A true masterpiece.

Matcha Coconut Pancakes (with a hint of mint)
makes 10 teeny pancakes, or about six medium sized; vegan, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, can be gluten-free

Ingredients
1/2 cup oats or oat flour (gluten free if you want) (45g)
2/3 cup milk (coconut, almond, oat, hemp, rice - anything will do) (approx 10 tbsp, 150ml)
1/2 large ripe banana
2 tsp matcha powder
3 tsp desiccated coconut
(coconut oil)
toppings!!!!!

Directions
1. If you're using oats rather than oat flour, whizz them in a blender until they're more of a flour. In a NutriBullet this takes less than 10 seconds.
2. Add the milk, banana, matcha powder, and coconut, and whizz again until it's all combined.
3. Add a couple of teaspoons of coconut oil to a large pan on a medium heat, and let it melt and cover most of the surface of the pan, then dollop in the mixture in pancake-sized blobs. (If you're using a non-stick pan then you can choose to skip the coconut oil, but it does add even more coconut flavour which is kinda delicious if you ask me.)
4. When tiny bubbles start to appear, flip the pancakes and cook on the other side. (Spoiler: this is optimal showing-off time. But only if you can actually flip pancakes. As I said before, practice on Sunday then wow the world on Monday.)
5. Once the pancakes are done (about a minute or two on each side), pop them on a plate in the oven to keep them warm. To stop them from going soggy, layer a piece of kitchen roll between each pancake. #LifeHack? #BakingHack? #PancHack(e)?
6. All done? Then pile them up, slather with toppings, and enjoy! And try to avoid what Mum did, which is to dive in a tad enthusiastically and topple the stack all over the table, toppings and all. (Still delicious though.)

Toppings suggestions: yoghurt (to keep the pancakes vegan go for a non-dairy yog - a coconut based one would be FAB), more coconut, more matcha, maple syrup, agave nectar, a showering of adoration and paparazzi-style photos... the list goes on.

I made ten baby sized pancakes because I wanted pancake jenga, but if you're less concerned with building a miniature skyscraper out of your breakfast then by all means make them a bit bigger. Clearly, my dreams of architecture are still going strong.

Also, the mint flavour really brightens these pancakes up, but you can just as easily use plain matcha powder and add in some mint. Eat Clean Tea also have a ginger flavoured matcha which honestly sounds right up my street. It's basically my house. (I'm not sure if that analogy really worked.)

Please let me know if you make these (or anything from my blog!) - it makes me mucho happy to know people enjoy these things as much as I do. My insty and twitter are both @imogenfin, and my snapchat is imogenfindlay. Or, if you're feeling shy, you can always leave an anonymous comment too!

P.S. It's Father's Day soon, so you could make these then too.. as if you needed another reason. Just spreading the matcha message. (The matcha message in this case is just "Mmm yum these pancakes from imogen molly are really delicious, I'll share this recipe with everyone I have ever met in my whole entire life." Easy as pie.)

*All photos in this post are mine. If you wish to use any, please ask my permission and credit me!*