These delicious Chickpea Pancakes are fantastic for babies, toddlers, and big kids too. They make for a fibre full breakfast that is also healthy and tasty, protein-packed with added vegetable goodness. This fibre-full breakfast is my favourite, a regular go-to that is quick satisfying & easy to prepare. My kids love them too!

The Ingredients

Organic free-range eggs
Cacao Nibs
Spinach
Broccoli sprouts
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Black Pepper

The Instructions

place 3 free range organic eggs in a blender cup
Add 3 heaped tablespoons of chickpea flour (basically one heaped tablespoon of flour for every egg)
Add a handful of spinach (or leafy greens of your choice). It also works well with a teaspoon of matcha or Chlorella or Spirulina
Blend until smooth
Heat some Olive oil in a skillet or frying pan until hot & coating the surface of the pan.
Pour in the green mixture & flip when small bubbles appear on the surface.
Stack them & dress them: I like broccoli Sprouts & cacao nibs while my kids usually opt for seasonal berries.

The Science

If your only contact with chickpeas has been adding them to a salad or eating hummus, then you’re missing out on some of the serious benefits of chickpea flour! Sometimes referred to as gram flour, it has all the same nutritional benefits of chickpeas since it’s simply made using one ingredient: ground chickpeas. But it is also a versatile, gluten-free flour, dense & filling due to being high in both protein & fibre. It’s considered a staple ingredient in Indian, Pakistani, Nepali and Bangladeshi cuisines so there is no shortage of recipe ideas available online & you might be surprised just how many ways you can easily begin to use it. The health benefits of legume consumption have received rising interest. Higher legume consumption is observed around the Mediterranean with ingestion of higher levels of fiber and phytonutrients is postulated as one reason why people consuming a Mediterranean style diet have historically experienced great health and can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes and even some types of cancer.

Sulforaphane is a very interesting compound found in cruciferous vegetables & is currently the subject of intense scientific investigation. Sulforaphane activates a special genetic pathway in our cells known as Nrf2 more potently than any other known naturally-occurring dietary compound. This gene, a master regulator, controls over 200 other genes affecting whether or not they’re activated and doing work. These include genes that affect our own anti-inflammatory processes & the health of our immune cells. It also upregulates antioxidant processes & even the ability to inactivate potentially harmful compounds we’re exposed to on a daily basis from breathing in carcinogens like benzene from air pollution. In a sense, we’re talking about an on-switch for some of our native stress responses.

The cacao tree nibs are seeds that are dried, de-hulled, roasted and minimally processed into what is essentially raw chocolate. The nibs are slightly bitter can provide important benefits to your health even with just a small serving. Among minerals, magnesium, copper, potassium, and iron are present in cocoa and as little as 6.6 grams of cacao nibs boosts your fibre intake to improve intestinal regularity. Aside from this, most of the benefits of cacao nibs are believed to be due to their specific plant chemicals called polyphenols. The cacao polyphenols are made of 37 percent catechins, 4 percent anthocyanins and 58 percent proanthocyanidins. So what are these plant chemicals actually doing? Cacao polyphenols induce release of nitric oxide (NO) through activation of endothelial NO synthase which causes our blood vessels to dilate, lowering blood pressure. The have also been shown to have anti-inflammatory potential and a beneficial effect on our gut barrier integrity particularly in those with inflammatory bowel conditions.