Savoury Buckwheat Crepes

By Amber MalikNutritionist and Holistic Chef

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Savoury Buckwheat Crepes

 

The French have been making buckwheat crepes for yonks. They’re known as galettes over there and are stuffed with any savoury filling (ham and cheese is a popular choice in France obviously) and then folded over like an envelope. Buckwheat is a fruit seed that’s not related to the wheat grain and has a slightly nutty flavour. These crepes are so versatile: use them as savoury pancakes with toppings, as wraps, sandwiches, tortillas, or as an alternative pizza base; in the same way that you’d use any kind of flatbread, in fact.

You can use straight buckwheat flour as this is the easiest to find, but if possible, try and source whole buckwheat groats and grind them down in your blender into a flour as you need them. The groats are not only cheaper but are more likely to have retained their nutritional value, as flour can become rancid sitting on a shop shelf for long periods.

It takes barely a minute to make the crepe batter but it’s best to leave it to rest in the fridge. A few hours are good, but as little as half an hour or as much as overnight is perfectly fine. Mix it all up in the morning before you leave the house and it’ll be ready for whichever meal you come home for!

 

INGREDIENTS

Makes approximately 15 large pancakes*. You can halve the recipe quite easily and simply use a smaller sized egg.

  • 2 cups (approx. 240g) buckwheat flour (or buckwheat groats ground down to make this amount of flour)
  • 3.5 cups water (approx. 16 fl oz)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1-2 tsp salt

*These freeze really well with a sheet of parchment paper between each one. To defrost, keep out at room temperature for 15 minutes and warm in a dry frying pan.

 

METHOD

  1. Beat the egg and mix with the buckwheat flour, salt and water.
  2. Whisk until mixed thoroughly. Leave to rest in the fridge.
  3. To cook: heat a non-stick pan and add oil. Give the batter another quick mix and ladle some into the pan. You want a thickness that’s just slightly heavier than a traditional Shrove Tuesday pancake.
  4. Cook until there is a layer of ‘holes’ over the surface. Flip over and cook the other side. (Don’t worry if your first one doesn’t quite work; that seems to be a requisite for all pancake making!)
  5. Make as many crepes as you can get from the batter. Give the mixture a quick whisk between each crepe as buckwheat flour tends to sink to the bottom.

 

Top and enjoy! My favourite way to eat this is with some spinach leaves, grilled mixed veggies and some salsa verde/pesto/chilli sauce drizzled over.

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Amber Malik

Nutritionist and Holistic Chef

Amber is a qualified nutritionist and holistic wellness warrior. These days she likes to spend her time indulging her foodie passion and cooking people satisfying meals as part of The Amber Lime supper clubs. Find her on Instagram and Facebook.