Taste the Rainbow Pancakes With Homemade Food Colouring.
Introduction: Taste the Rainbow Pancakes With Homemade Food Colouring.
My daughters love to set me challenges and I love to make them happy, so they thought it would be "fun" for me to make rainbow pancakes using only fruits and veggies from the cupboards, which considering we don't have any of the typical food colouring ingredients, was the only way we would be able to get colour into the pancakes.
Not one to shy away from a challenge but also slightly worried, knowing that natural colourings don't always have the same vibrant outcome, I was ready to roll my sleeves up and get stuck in.
So let's get started.
Supplies
PANCAKE MIX:
* 240g all purpose flour (can substitute for a gluten free flour blend, just remember to add xanthan gum)
* 320ml milk (dairy free alternative works as well)
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 4 eggs separated
* 100g sugar
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 50g butter (or margarine / dairy free alternative)
FOOD COLOURINGS:
* Red - cooked, pureed beetroot
* Orange - cooked, pureed carrot
* Yellow - Turmeric 1/2 tsp in 1 tbsp of water
* Green - Matcha powder: 1/2 tsp in 1 tbsp of water
* Blue - 200g red cabbage cooked, strained + 50g sugar added then reduced. 1/4 tsp baking powder
* Violet - 50g blueberries pureed
UTENSILS:
* Bowls, lots and lots of bowls
* Measuring spoons
* Measuring cup
* Knife
* Peeler
* Spatulas
* Pancake pan
* Blender
* Stand alone mixer
* Sieve
* Saucepan
Step 1: Making the Food Colourings
Going through my kitchen cupboards I tried to find at least one of every colour of the rainbow, seemed totally logical reasoning but would it actually work? Let's see.
The idea behind each colour was to make sure there wasn't an excess of water, as once they are mixed into the pancake batter, they will already be less vibrant, so no need to dilute it any further.
TOP TIP: if you use too much water or feel that after blending any of the ingredients it's a little watery in texture, don't be afraid to gently reduce it in a saucepan. Just keep a keen eye on them so they don't burn.
RED: looking at a packet of beetroot and seeing it's red juices I thought perfect. I only used one small head of cooked beetroot, popped it in the blender and was surprised that it reminded me of tomato ketchup (perhaps that will be another recipe one day!)
ORANGE: I peeled one medium sized carrot, chopped it into small pieces, placed it in a saucepan and added just enough water to cover the carrot. Slowly cook until the carrots are soft and allow the water to evaporate. Blend the cooked carrots to a smooth puree.
YELLOW and GREEN: the easiest of the colours to create. 293
Simply mix 1 teaspoon of turmeric and matcha powder (separately) in 1 tablespoon of water. You are looking for a thick paste texture.
BLUE: I know what you are thinking, red cabbage has a beautiful purple colour, but with a bit of magic, well chemistry really, it can be changed to a gorgeous blue colour.
Here's how:
Shred 200g of red cabbage, place in a saucepan and add just enough water to cover the cabbage. Allow to slowly cook. Strain the cabbage and put the juices back into the saucepan. Add 50g of sugar and reduce to a thick syrup.
I was surprised at how purple this turned out so I did keep half of the purple syrup to one side before carrying on with the rest, as a purple back-up colouring, if the blueberries failed.
With the other half of the purple syrup I added 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) and watched the magic happen.
Now it wasn't exactly the blue I was looking for, but my daughters fell in love and called it "mermaid blue".
PURPLE: I know what you are thinking, why didn't I use blueberries to make the blue colour? Good question. Well aside from their name and gorgeous blue hew to their skin, once pureed up, you have a lovely red wine colour.
INDIGO: you'll need to mix purple and blue in equal measures to make an indigo colour, or leave it out completely.
Now we need to make the pancake batter, which is perfect because it will allow all of the colours to fully cool down. 293