Brown rice and fenugreek pancakes

‘I think trying to be cool is the worst possible ambition – and I have never suffered from it.’

Ben Elton

Stumbling across a foisty, twenty-five-year-old, Ben Elton book in Penestanan, Ubud, was just the ticket to escape from out of the storm. Rain was falling incessantly, but from within the pages, giggles, smirks, LOLs and inspiration for writing a next screenplay or a book was falling from the sky like, well, rain. A happy accident. We love them here at The Mat Movement.

Pablo Picasso says he doesn’t believe in chance,

‘There are only encounters in history. There are no accidents.’

Well, if that’s true, these pancakes are a recent encounter of our history. Not accidental, but sent forth from within this manifest unknown to be shared with all. A bonus. An experiment from playing around with rice and water in a villa in Bali. Tasty, flexible, gluten-free and full of protein. Our kind of non-accidental accident. Want to make them? Here’s how.

Preparation time: 2 days (includes soaking and maturation)

Equipment

A good powerful blender like a Vitamix (other blenders are available, LOL). You’ll need this because you’ll be bending thick liquid for a good while. Poorly rated blenders will overheat. Compare the kW/HP rating to see if you have a powerful blender.
A good non-stick frying pan.

Ingredients

2 x cups of low-starch brown rice, soaked overnight
water
1 x teaspoon fenugreek seeds
baking powder
salt
coconut oil

Method

Put the soaked rice in a good blender.
Top up with water until the water just covers the level of the rice.
Add the fungreek and blend for 5 minutes to form a completely smooth and thick paste.
Decant into a bowl, cover with a muslin colts and leave overnight for the fenugreek flavour to grow and for the mixture to become firmer, like a goats cheese.
Spoon one cup of your goats-cheese-like mixture into the blender with the same amount of water and blend to a pancake batter.
Add a pinch of salt and 1/3 teaspoon baking powder and blitz for 5 seconds.
Leave the batter to stand for 2 minutes while you heat a pan with a small amount of oil.
Drain the excess oil from the pan and add a pool of batter to the pan.
Cook the pancake on a medium heat. It may look as though the pancake will never come unstuck from the pan, but when it’s ready, the rice on the underside will crisp and it will separate itself. The pancake can then be turned.
With turning, you’ll want to cook the pancake for 5-7 minutes minimum, ensuring that there is no more liquid-rice in the middle.
Refrigerate to reheat later (reheat only one and with caution to reheat to piping hot throughout) or serve immediately.