Bean pancakes with buckwheat flour and a fruit-vegetable salad

For many of us, fruits are probably associated with desserts while we think of vegetables in more savoury contexts. But have you ever tried a smoothie that had vegetables in it? Combining fruits and vegetables is actually very common in world cuisine. In Scandinavia, cranberry jams are used as side dishes during meals, while in France such sauces are combined with cheese. Hungarians are known to add sugar to salads, while anyone who likes Indian food will have already encountered chutneys and curries from things like mango and pineapple. And we can’t forget the most argued about food of all time: Hawaiian pizza.

For today’s lunch, we also decided to try to mix up our combinations a bit, by creating a salad with apples, cucumber, pineapple, and celery. For our main course, we made bean pancakes with buckwheat flour.

Recipe, preparation, and cost

For the salad, all the ingredients were cut up and mixed together in a bowl, where we then added some almonds to give a nice crunch and some black cumin to taste. Even though it has the word “cumin” in the name, black cumin is in a different genus than regular cumin (Cuminum cyminum) and has a different taste. In fact, black cumin may refer to two plants, both of which are used as spices and both of which have very different culinary attributes: Nigella sativa and Bunium bulbocastanum. When the salad was done, we started baking pancakes.

Once the pancakes were cooked, they can have a variety of spreads used on them, or vegetables. We had a canned sauce on hand that we used, but cooking up eggplant and red pepper together in olive oil can make a great sauce! We also added green mustard shoots (Sinapis alba) to our dish to add a fresh hit.

As you’ve probably noticed, we at Hungry Pumpkin are not only hungry, but also curious (curious pumpkin doesn’t sound as good for a blog name though) and always wanting to try out new ideas and combinations. Though we managed to make vegan and gluten-free pancakes with beans in them, this recipe still needs some work. For those of you not intolerant to gluten, adding some in would likely be a great way to help your pancakes hold together, as ours were prone to tearing. We tried to keep them small and thick though and this helped with the problem. In addition to playing with the composition, various fresh herbs such as basil, chives, or parsley can be added to enhance the flavour. If you want a really treat, try making savoury pancakes with curry! Yummy! The point is, don’t be afraid to experiment and see what you come up with. Sometimes it may have your whole family asking to order take out, but others you may find a new favourite dish or alteration to an existing meal. 

The price of today’s lunch for 4 people came out to 5.41€, which is 1.35€ per person. This is slightly above the average price for our lunches, with the most expensive ingredients being the celery and the cucumber as they were not in season. These could be substituted for cheaper alternatives. 

Nutritional value

If you have questions about today’s lunch (or ideas for future lunches) then feel free to write to us at hungry.pumpkin.blog@gmail.com and we will get back to you!

Have a great weekend!

-The Hungry Pumpkin Team