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Chai Pancakes with Super Simple Hot Chocolate Sauce

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If December is not the month of hot chocolate, pancakes and romantic Christmas movies in bed, then which month is it? Picture this; you have a huge stack of (healthy & vegan) chai pancakes that are poured with chocolate sauce and topped with some apple or pear. Sounds good? I know! But you know what? You don’t only have to dream about that but you can make it come true!

What’s special about this dish?

First of all, pancakes that are healthy. Kind of special, right? Usually they are packed with fat and refined sugar but not this one! Second, they are vegan! And please, do me a favour; if you think vegan pancakes are boring and cannot be fluffy, try out this recipe. You’ll be proven wrong! Plus, they are easy to make. If you don’t believe me, try it!

And obviously, they are chai-flavoured, because how could they not in December?! PLUS: a healthy-ish and easy chocolate sauce. Ok enough now. All the goodies but nutritious! Christmas dreams coming true!

What is Chai?

Chai actually is a tea that originated in India. To be exact, a black tea with spices, that is drunken with milk in it. It has become super popular in the recent years and nowadays you can find a chai, a chai latte, a dirty chai latte and so on in every coffee house!

In these pancakes we are not actually using the tea, as in tea bags, but we are using the spices that also can be found in the chai tea. These spices are cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. We are using these spices and adding them to our pancakes, to give them this really comforting flavour.

Are these pancakes healthy?

They definitely are way more nutritious than regular pancakes! Why? Regular pancakes are made from butter, sugar, flour and eggs in most cases. Butter, sugar and flour all are not nutrient-dense.

These pancakes are made of apple sauce instead of butter, which has far less fat and calories, chia eggs instead of regular eggs for extra fibre, wholegrain flour instead of white flour for more fibre and nutrients and plant based yoghurt, apple sauce and a little maple syrup instead of white refined sugar. Those still contain sugar but contrary to white refined sugar, they come along other nutrients.

How do we make them fluffy?

Pretty simple. We are using 2 things to make them fluffy; sparkling or soda water and baking powder. The air in the sparkling water gives nice air bubbles in the pancakes and the baking powder makes them rise when cooking!

How do I know when to flip my pancakes?

There is a great trick for that! You need to cook them on medium-high heat all the time. When they start to get bubbles while cooking, it is time to flip them. But also, be aware that the first few never turn out as pretty as the rest, I don’t know why but it’s always like that. 🙂

How to make these pancakes:

This is nothing complicated where you need to get 100 bowls and mixers out. Definitely not. We start by making a chia egg (simply combine chia seeds and plant based milk), then add the apple sauce, maple syrup, plant based yoghurt and soda/ sparkling water. Then you just whisk in the flour mixed with the spices and baking powder and the batter is done!

Noe we just need to fry the pancakes one by one and make the chocolate sauce. For this, combine the coconut milk, maple syrup, cacao powder and plant based milk and bring it to a boil. That’s pretty much it!

When, with what, meal prep?

When – I don’t think that I have to tell you which time of the day you should have pancakes. breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, literally whenever you want, there is no time when you shouldn’t have pancakes!
With what? – I like to add some fresh fruit like pear, apple or banana but go for whatever you want! You could also add some not butter or maple syrup if that’s what you like!
Meal prep friendly? – yes! You can reheat them in the microwave or freeze them and reheat in the pan, microwave or oven! That way you can always make the whole batch and never have to throw something away when making too many!

I hope that this recipe will make you December a whole lot better and that you will enjoy these many many times! Have a lot of fun cooking and a good time eating!

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Chai Pancakes with Super Simple Hot Chocolate Sauce

Christmas on a plate. Pretty much. Healthy and vegan AND good tasting pancakes. Super easy. super quick and heaven with the chocolate sauce on top!

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 10 Minuten
Total Time 20 Minuten
Servings 6 pancakes
Calories 138 kcal

What you will need

For the pancakes:

  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 3 tbsp plant based milk
  • 50 g apple sauce (Apfelmus)
  • 50 g yoghurt (plant based for vegan option)
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 100 ml sparkling/ soda water
  • 100 g wholegrain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cardamon
  • 1/4 tsp cloves
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • some oil/ butter for frying

For the chocolate sauce:

  • 2 tbsp canned coconut milk
  • 3 tbsp cacao powder
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2-3 tbsp plant based milk
  • some fresh fruit for serving

How to

  1. To make the chia egg combine the chia seeds with the plant based milk and let sit for 3-5 minutes until the chia seeds start getting gelly.

  2. In the meantime combine the flour with the spices and baking powder.

  3. Add the apple sauce, plant based yoghurt, sparkling water and maple syrup to the chia egg and give it a good stir until everything is combined!

  4. Whisk in the flour until having reached a smoothed batter. It should have a cake batter like consistency. If too thick, add some more milk or water, if too thin, add some more flour.

  5. Heat up a pan and melt the oil/ butter in it. Once hot, add the pancakes, about 3 tbsp of the batter for each and cook on medium-high for about 4 minutes. Once bubbles start to form on the top of the pancake, it is time to flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes on the other side.

  6. In the meantime make the chocolate sauce by combining all of the ingredients in a pan or pot and bringing it to a boil. Whisk everything so it is combined and take off the heat!

  7. Once all pancakes are done, serve them with teh chocolate sauce and fresh fruit! Enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Love,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

The meanest green sandwich with grilled halloumi and lemon spinach

by 2 Kommentare

Who doesn’t love a good sandwich? And not just a good one but a really delicious and healthy one. Marinated lemon tomato spinach paired with pesto, avocado and perfectly grilled and soft halloumi. Every single bite is a pleasure. 

Sandwiches are truly one of the best meals you can have. I mean, they consist of bread, and who does not love bread? And you can fill them with whatever you like!! Pretty genius to be honest. But really, today we are not going to make a basic boring sandwich. We are going to make a next level sandwich that makes your mouth water and still is ready in 15 minutes! 

What is special about this dish?

It is the unusual fillings if the sandwich! How often is the bread just spread with butter or mayonnaise and topped with ham and cheese? Way too often in my opinion. Not only, that it really is not healthy, but kind of boring right? In this sandwich we have an incredibly delicious combination of incredibly delicious marinated spinach that is tossed in a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, dried tomatoes and chili flakes, some delicious creamy avocado, a gentle spread of pesto, and let’s not forget about the star of the show, the soft halloumi. If you have never had the combination of avocado and halloumi, then now it’s high time.

Are sandwiches healthy and how to make them healthy

There definitely is no yes or no answer to this question. This really depends SO much on what the sandwich is made out of. If you have some white toast with butter, cheese and ham, then no, it is not healthy. There is no fiber but lots and lots of fats in it. But if you make one like this, it is fair to say that it is healthy. You have got nutrients and vitamins from the spinach, healthy fats and vitamins from the avocado, and a bunch of fibre and complex carbohydrates from the whole grain bread. The halloumi is nit super duper healthy but it is super delicious and the combination is what makes it. The sandwich is very well balanced out with healthy ingredients such as spinach and also deliciousness as the halloumi. 

But how can you make a healthy sandwich? With very easy changes, you can get a big difference in the nutritional value. It already starts with the bread. Instead of white toast, you can long for whole grain bread. More fiber and more complex carbs which will provide more nutritional value and will keep you full for longer. Then it comes to the spread. Instead of using butter, you can long for avocado, pesto or hummus for example. They all are loaded with unsaturated fats and are a healthier choice over butter. 

Then, what I always love to do is adding some kind of veggies. You can do some salad, like in this sandwich, or you can also do something else like cucumber, bell peppers, radishes or whatever you like! And for me, personally I always like to have something to be kind of the „star of the show“. So something kn the middle that really fills the sandwich and makes it taste amazing. This could be halloumi, scrambled eggs, smoked or pan fried tofu, smashed chickpeas or anything else to your desire. 

How to make this sandwich:

This is truly simple. First you need to marinate the spinach. For that you just need to combine the oil, tomatoes, lemon juice and chili flakes. Next you need to toast the bread. This is not obligatory but crispy bread just tastes better in my opinion. Next, you need ti spread the pesto on both sides. This way the bread will not taste dry and it adds a bunch of flavor. Now, we need to pan fry the halloumi. For this just add the halloumi to a pan and heat it up. And then it already is down to being assembled. Yep it is that easy! 

I really love this sandwich as a brunch, a quick lunch or an easy but still fancy dinner! It is packed with so much flavor, pretty healthy and incredibly delicious while it still is super easy to make! 

I hope you like this recipe as much as I do and will make it ok repeat! 

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Meanest Greenest Sandwich with Lemon Chili Spinach and Grilled Halloumi

a delicious, easy and healthy sandwich that is ready in basically no time! Perfect dor meal prep or as a quick lunch!

Course Breakfast, brunch, lunch
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 5 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 2 Sandwiches
Calories 413 kcal

What you will need

  • 4 slices Whole grain bread
  • 1/2 Avocado
  • 125 G Halloumi
  • 2 Handful Spinach
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 Tbsp Chopped dried tomatoes
  • 1 Tsp Chili flakes
  • 1/2 Lemon juiced
  • 2 Tbsp basil pesto

How to

  1. Combine the olive oil, chopped dried tomatoes, chili flakes and lemon juice in a bowl. Add it to the spinach and mix to combine. Let sit to marinate for about 10 minutes.

  2. Toast the slices of whole grain bread. Slice up the avocado. Heat up a pan and add the halloumi. Fry for about 2-4 minutes on each side.

  3. Spread the pesto on one side of every bread. Add the spinach on top, followed by the halloumi, the sliced avocado and close with the second slice of bread!

  4. Serve and enjoy!

Happy cooking, 

Enjoy,

Katie