Do you miss eggs? I get asked this quite often.

Yes, of course.

Cheese?

Yes, though less than I imagined due to lots of cheesy vegan products popping up in supermarkets everywhere I go.

So you do miss them, then?

Yes.

I also miss telling people what I think of them but after 7 years of age, this gets a little more complex to recover from, capiche?

Pancake Day has been a joy since as far back as I can remember. And for the record, that earliest memory is when I was aged 2, sitting beneath a nest of tables eating an unfortunately named chocolate covered fudge stick from a Birmingham-based confectioner, while watching the Muppet Show.

I can date it by the house we lived in at the time. It’s a very happy memory. Miss Piggy is still my idol. This is partly why I don’t fit underneath the nest of tables anymore.

My Mom and Dad both make superb pancakes. These are crepe-like but not quite as thin, though significantly thinner than US or North American style pancakes. Not that I’m not a fan of the thicker, spongier pancake. We used to buy little ready made lemon and sultana pancakes all year, my grandmother was very fond of these, maybe because they were similar to Welsh cakes, in a way.

I can easily recall the mountains of perfumed lemon quarters, the scent of smoking oil, the brass-topped glass sugar shaker and for many years I gave no thought, at all, to an alternative topping to mouthwatering fresh lemon juice and the contrast of crunchy sugar.

The little plastic lemon that brazenly tried to rename pancake day, invaded almost every prime time advert break on our four television channels, for years. It has it’s place, of course. Lasts for ages. Portable. Cute even. Go ahead and draw a face on it.

On the build up to pancake day, and the impending philanthropic chocolate abstinence of Lent, kids at school told me mythical tales of spreading strawberry jam and golden syrup on their pancakes. What?! Where are the lemons? Would they wear extra ashes on Wednesday, for these indulgences on the preceding day?

The cool kids mentioned squirty cream, bananas and hundreds and thousands, and the rich kids had their branded hazelnut chocolate spread. And Gameboys. And first generation Nike Air trainers. Not all of these covetable items were served as toppings on their rich-kid pancakes, though they remained at the forefront of my mind, nonetheless.

There are endless recipes online for vegan pancakes and many recipes for vegan crepes. I have read what feels like 150, in reality it was probably more like 5. Then I decided just to go for it. No eggs. No dairy.

A tip: if you’re worried about using a whole bag of 5 lemons from the major supermarkets, buy a bottle of gin during the same trip. Slice up remaining lemons and freeze for later use in your gin and tonics.

Alternatively, drink the gin and stop worrying about the lemons entirely.

You can repent on Ash Wednesday.

INGREDIENTS (makes around 6-8 pancakes)

1 mug of flour, not packed down

1 1/2 mugs of plant milk, I used oat

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp light olive oil or sunflower oil

Oil, for frying

A very non-stick, non-stick frying pan (think, politician level of slipperiness)

METHOD

Use a blender unless you have someone who has a tireless urge to whisk maniacly for 30 minutes. I don’t know that person.

Add all the ingredients (except the oil for frying) into the blender and blend until smooth. The consistency should be that of runny yoghurt.

Place the pan over medium heat. Heat around a tablespoon of oil in the pan, roll it around the pan to cover all the base then tip the hot oil into a cup or mug next to the stove. You’ll repeat this process using the same hot oil for every pancake. Do I have to tell you to use a cup or mug that’s ceramic and can take heat? I hope not.

For heaven’s sake be careful with the hot oil. Boiling oil was once used to see off enemies from the castle walls. Even if you have enemies, or you don’t like yourself very much, and even if you don’t live in a castle, this is a very ill-advised enemy management strategy.

You could try that low calorie spray oil but I think it smells funny. Just me?!

Add a ladle of batter to the now slightly smoking pan. Roll the batter around very quickly, it needs to be 2-3mm thick, cook for a minute or less then flip over. I’m not going to make tosser jokes. You expect better of me, I know that.

Usually a minute on each side is enough to get a golden colour. Place the pancake on a plate and have some kitchen paper or grease proof paper to hand to place between each pancake to stop them sticking. You can keep them warm in the oven on a low heat while you cook them all. Any longer than that in a warm oven and you risk drying them out too much.

Serve with lemon juice and sugar sprinkled over or with any of the more exotic accoutrements mentioned above.

This year I’m going to make a savoury dish where I use the pancakes similarly to cannelloni tubes.

This will be followed by extra pancakes with lemon and sugar, to ensure that wide-eyed kid sat under the nest of tables, remains happy.

#pancakeday #veganpancakes #vegancrepes #crepes #lent #ashwednesday #easter #pancakes #vegan #veganuk #vegancakes #veganfood #veganism #veganfoodie #veganfood #veganlunch #whatveganseat #vegansofig #veganrecipes #vegantreats #vegano #vegana #veganfoodshare #veganfoodlovers #veganlifestyle #vegancommunity #veganshare #eggfree #eggfreepancakes