food international: Wild Rice Pancakes

Before I begin explaining this luscious deliciousness, I need to state for the record that I love Minnesota. I’ve now visited Minneapolis three times and I want to marry it for the following reasons:

1. I don’t sweat there. The climate is right up my alley.
2. The people. What’s in the water up there? Everyone is seriously lovely and so kind.

Another reason I love Minnesota is that wild rice is everywhere. And when I was there earlier this month, I ordered wild rice pancakes from the room service menu because I’m, like, all about eating dishes that are true to the area I’m visiting.

And because I just wanted pancakes.

So here was my experience: I got the pancakes. I ate the pancakes. And I absolutely, positively loved the pancakes. Truly one of the best pancake experiences I’ve ever had, and believe you me, I’ve had a lot of pancake experiences. The texture…the very slight nutty flavor. I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob.

So before I left for New York last week (I’m posting photos in a bit!) I whipped up a batch just for kicks. I loved them every bit as much as I did in Minnesota.

Wild rice! This was a gift. (Thank you!)

 

Wild rice! This was a gift, too. I was so excited to get these, because I’m making a Thanksgiving side dish with wild rice and I was plum out in my pantry.

I love it when unexpected wild rice pantry insertions occur!

First, measure some wild rice and cook it according to package directions. Unless the package directions suggest that you cook it in chicken broth. If the package directions suggest that you cook the rice in chicken broth, do not cook the wild rice according to package directions.

Just cook it in water, okay?

Oh! And here’s something you need to know: It takes forever to cook wild rice. Like 45 to 55 minutes or something. So pull out every ounce of pancake patience you have. You’re gonna need it.

 

For the pancakes, measure some flour into a big ol’ bowl. If you have cake flour, use it…but I just went for the all-purpose stuff.

Then add some salt…

Baking powder…

And sugar.

And then! This is totally optional, but I happened to have some in my pantry and I wanted to give the pancakes a little bit of a flavor edge. Ground flaxseed!

 

I measured about four tablespoons or so…

Then threw it on top of the flour mixture.

You can get the flaxseed meal at lots of supermarkets now, and you can throw it into basically any baked good: muffins, coffee cakes, cookies. It’s yummy, Maynard.

Sorry I called you Maynard. I just love the stuff.

Stir the mixture around, then set it aside for a second or ninety.

Measure some whole milk and crack in two eggs…

Then add some vanilla and stir it all around to mix it up.

Next up, slowly drizzle the wet ingredients…

…Into the dry ingredients…

Stirring gently as you go.

The consistency should be nice and pancake-batter thick, but definitely still pourable. So splash in as much extra milk as you need in order to get it to the right consistency.

 

By now the wild rice is done.

Sheesh! That took forever.

 

So by the spoonful, add it to the batter (mine was still pretty warm; it’s best to let the rice cool quite a bit.)

And fold it in until it’s all mixed together. Now, how much cooked rice you add to the pancake batter is pretty personal, so I’d suggest you start by adding half…then work your way up from there. If you decide not to use all the rice and have some leftover, stir it into your Thanksgiving stuffing!

The pancakes I had at the hotel were big monster, motherin’, mongo pancakes…so that’s exactly what I made.

First, I buttered the skillet really well.

Medium heat.

Slightly sizzly.

Amen.

Flipped it when it was golden brown on the first side.

 

And then it was time to get serious.

Butter and syrup.

Hooray!

You seriously won’t believe how good these are.

Texture galore.

Texture out the door.

Texture out the wazoo.

I could have stopped before that last one. Sorry.

You can also be a normal person and make normal-sized pancakes. I won’t tell anyone.

 

I love life.

 

For life…

 

Includes these pancakes.

 

Try them. Trust me. You’ll be so glad you did. They’re everything that’s good about pancakes, but with a delicious bonus.

Thank you, Minnesota!

Give your climate a kiss for me.

Here’s the handy dandy randy (wait…huh?) printable!

Recipe

Wild Rice Pancakes

Prep Time:

15 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Cook Time:

1 Hours

Servings:

6 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup Wild Rice
• 3 cups All-purpose OR (if You Have It) Cake Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
• 4 Tablespoons Sugar
• 3-1/2 cups Whole Milk
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
• Butter, For Serving
• Maple Or Pancake Syrup

Instructions

Cook wild rice according to package instructions (do not add salt or cook in broth. Just cook in plain water.) Set aside.

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl.

Mix together milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring very gently until just combined. Add more milk if batter seems too thick. It should definitely be thick but easily pourable.

Add melted butter to the batter, stirring gently to combine.

Gently stir in cooked wild rice. (Add half at first and see how you like the looks of the batter. Then slowly add in as much as you want.)

Cook on a buttered skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown. Serve with an obscene amount of butter and warm syrup.