Call it an eggless omelette, a Mediterranean socca, a pancake with panache…
Whatever its name, it’s an easy and ultra-adaptable recipe for camping breakfasts, lunches or dinners.
The batter
- Premix your dry ingredients and store in a silicone ziplock bag or container.
- I use two-parts chickpea flour (gram flour) and one-part arrowroot for gluten-free crispiness, but replace the arrowroot with any flour of your choice.
- If you happen to be making hummus, then add the aquafaba (chickpea water) from the tin to the batter. It stands in for the egg, but it’s not essential.
- Mix to a single cream consistency with milk, dairy-free mylk or water.
- Add the seasonings of your choice – fried onion, chives, smoked paprika, chilli…whatever you fancy.
The filling
- Griddled or fried courgette, tomato or peppers
- Cheese for non-vegans
- Small pieces of meat for non-vegetarians
- Olives, capers, grilled artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes…it’s absolutely up to you and what’s available.
Heat a little oil in a frying pan or crepe pan on your stove (we use a Cadac Safari Chef or our teeny but reliable Campingaz Bivouac stove). Pour in a thin layer of batter and cook till set. Turn and add filling ingredients to one half. When the underside is browned, fold in half and serve.
If you’re cooking for a number, share each pancake as it comes off the stove, so that everyone gets to eat a little while the next one’s being cooked.
Delicious with salad, salsa or chutney. And we love it with our made-on-the-road hummus now that we’ve found the incredible hand-powered food processor.
Easy campsite hummus
Why bother? Because tins of chickpeas are cheap; hummus in France is dosed with unnecessary stuff, and once you start using the Zyliss hand food processor you’ll want to chop EVERYTHING! It’s now in our favourite camping equipment list!
- Tin of chickpeas
- Lemon juice
- A clove of garlic
- Salt, pepper
- A dessertspoon of tahini if you have it (a teaspoon of sesame seeds or nowt at all is fine too)
- Oil
- Water as needed
Simply put everything except the water in the processor and pull the string till you have the consistency you like. Add water to loosen or a bit more oil. It won’t be absolutely smooth, but 20 pulls and it’ll be close to perfect. You can just about see the result in the picture at the top…but we ate it too fast to take more photos!
Don’t forget your camping spice tin
Make yourself a neat camping box of herbs and spices and you’ll never have to rummage in your kitchen bag again.
We all have our own essentials and favourites, so pick and mix to suit, but here’s what we always have- Curry powder
- Mixed herbs
- Chilli powder
- Cumin
- Coriander
- Chinese five spice
- Garam masala
- Whole spices – cardamom, star anise, cloves
- Smoked paprika
- Dried lime leaves
- Sesame seeds
- A masala dhaba is a great idea, providing it has airtight lids or a double outer lid.
Go for a neat set of magnetic tins.
Or simple stackable boxes with transparent lids so you don;’t have to open every box to check what’s inside.This lovely German set of spice and herb tins has good lids and all the labels you need to keep things organised.
If you’ve got a weigh-and-save or zero-waste shop near you, you can refill containers like these more cheaply and with less wasted packaging too.
