Gluten Free: Crispy Pancakes

Ah, crispy pancakes. Just thinking about their slightly unnatural orangey crust and that hotter-than-the-sun interior makes me feel all wistful and nostalgic. Just one of the casualties of my gluten free diet, crispy pancakes were one of my favourite student foods. When you share a cooker with ten other girls, or your kitchen is roughly the size of a postage stamp, convenience food really live up to their name. With my university days becoming a distant memory, (some of those memories were a bit hazy anyway, thanks to cheap drinks and Decades nights at the union) it doesn't feel very 'grown up' to eat things like this for dinner now. Fortunately, I'm not very grown up so I don't really care! 

I've gone for a cheese and ham fillling but you could make actually grown up crispy pancake with a chicken and asparagus or beef and chestnut filling instead.

You'll need

• 750ml milk
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 50g cheddar cheese, grated
• 100g ham, cut into cubes
• 200g rice flour (I use Doves Farm)
• 4 eggs
• 100g gluten free breadcrumb (you can make your own with some stale bread or you can get gf breadcrumbs in the freefrom aisle)
• oil, for frying

Make it!

• Put 250ml of milk in a saucepan and bring it to the boil over a gentle heat. Mix the arrowroot with a splash of milk to make a loose paste. Once the milk has come to the boil, turn the heat down to simmer and add the arrowroot mixture, stirring all the time. The sauce will thicken quickly, when it does remove from heat. Stir in the mustard, cheese and ham and set aside to cool.
• Sieve 150g rice flour into a bowl, add 2 eggs and whisk until combined. Slowly add the milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Set aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat a frying pan and brush lightly with oil, pour in enough pancake batter to cover the base of the pan (don't make them too thin or they'll burst when they're filled). When the surface starts to bubble turn them over and cook for a couple of minutes until the other side is golden brown. Set aside on a clean plate to cool while you make the rest. You should get about eight pancakes.
• Once the filling and pancakes are cool you can start putting them together. Put the remaining flour, breadcrumbs and 2 eggs in their own plate or shallow bowl. Beat the eggs.
• Take a pancake and place a couple of dessertspoons of the filling in the centre of the pancake, brush the edges with some of the beaten egg, fold the pancake over and seal.
• Dip the pancake in the flour, then into the beaten egg, back into the flour, into the egg again and, lastly, into the breadcrumbs. Make sure to coat well with each dipping.
• Heat a couple of tbsp oil in a pan and add your coated pancakes. fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, before transferring to the oven to cook at 200°C for about 10 minutes.