Protein pancakes (Shared by Alvina Foo)

Ingredients:
1 cup of steel cut oats
1 cup of almond milk
Extra almond milk
1/4 cup of tapioca flour or arrowroot flour 
15mL maple syrup
5 eggs
1 heaped tbsp spoon of plant based protein
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
Coconut oil

Toppings:
1 cup of dates soaked overnight in 100mL of filtered water
Bananas

About the oats...You can use rolled oats too. I prefer steel cut oats as it is nuttier and more flavoursome. 
Almond Milk substitute: In the past, I have used plain greek yoghurt, homemade yoghurt, coconut water and butter milk. They are all fine to use. You may even choose to use water with perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice. That's perfectly fine too.
Tapicoa flour…This is not the same as arrowroot flour. I remembered buying some from a local supermarket because it was labelled "Arrowroot flour", but I soon realise that in Australia, the term tapicoa and arrowroot flour are used interchangeably. Anyway, I managed to source some from one of our suppliers. (See below if you're interested in why I choose arrowroot flour.)
Maple syrup…this is after all a protein pancake recipe, so I tend to limit the amount of sugar I use. If you have a sweet tooth, you can always drown it with maple syrup when serving!
Coconut oil substitute: macademia oil, rice bran oil, butter or ghee. Do you know that butter contains minimal amount of lactose and casein? Of course, if you're extremely sensitive, don't use it. Ghee is clarified butter. This is the top layer of the melted butter, ghee does not contain the milk solids, so this is better tolerated by many. Ghee originated from India and has been used for thousands of years in cuisine.  

Method:

• Soak the oats in almond milk overnight or for at least 6 hours. It is fine leaving it on the kitchen bench top. 
• Next morning, add baking soda, salt, maple syrup and plant based protein powder into the oat mixture. 
• Add tapicoa or arrowroot flour to almond milk and make up 1/3 cup of mixture. Stir well and pour this into the oat mixture. 
• Pour the eggs into the BioChef blender (or high powered blender).
• Pour the oat mixture into the blender.
• Set blender on high and blend for about 1 minute or until you get a batter.
• Using medium heat on stove, lightly brush frying pan with oil or butter. I try not to use high heat in my cooking, as it reduces and destroys nutritients in our food. 
• Pour batter into the frying pan. I prefer my pancakes to be thin, so pour and swirl to cover base. 
• Cook for 1 minute or until light golden brown. 
• Flip the pancake and cook for another minute.
• Transfer to plate and repeat with more oil and remaining batter.

About arrowroot flour

Arrowroot is a rhizome that originated from native tropical American.  The flour is made from drying and powdering the root. It is easily digestible and was once used in baby formula. The demulcent property made it favourable for bowel complaints. Apart from containing calcium ash, it also contains potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron and other trace minerals.