Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated on October 12. This month’s recipe is inspired by Indigenous recipes and ingredients from the Southwest. Blue corn pancakes are a great weekend brunch idea, and you can always explore other toppings with local ingredients depending on what your local market offers.
Ingredients for this recipe were sourced from the Downtown Growers’ Market and Tiny Grocer. Farmers’ market ingredients included local yogurt ($7), apples ($5), pears ($5), jujubes ($4), and piñon ($10), and totaled $21. Other ingredients found at Tiny Grocer including, blue corn meal, flour, and eggs totaled $18. The recipe creates 4-6 pancakes depending on how big you like them, serves 2-3 people, and takes about 40 minutes to complete.
Pancakes
Image: Blue corn pancakes topped with apple, pear, jujube and piñon
- ½ cup blue cornmeal
- ½ cup whole-wheat flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon olive oil or melted butter
Apple-Pear Topping
- ½ medium apple, diced
- ½ medium pear, diced
- 4-5 jujubes (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of ground juniper berry, optional
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons toasted chopped piñon nuts
Directions
- Combine the apple, pear, jujubes, cinnamon, optional juniper, water, and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 8–10 minutes, until tender.
- Whisk the blue cornmeal, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk the egg, yogurt, milk, vanilla, and oil.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes.
- Cook approximately ¼ cup batter per pancake on a lightly greased skillet over medium heat. Flip when bubbles appear and the edges look set.
- Spoon the apple-pear topping over the pancakes, sprinkle with piñon nuts, and enjoy!
