Christmas spiced pikelets with kiwifruit and strawberry salsa

Every year we do Christmas Brunch with my family, usually a bacon and egg combo with all the sides, mushrooms, spinach, tomato avocado etc. But today I though I would experiment with something new. These pikelets are quick and easy to make, similar to your edmonds recipe, egg flour milk, but with millet flour instead of regular flour, making them gluten free and with a deeper texture and flavour.

Millet is a slightly sweet golden coloured grain, which originated in China. It has many health benefits including being a source of protein, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals including copper, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, and B-complex vitamins (especially niacin and B6). As well as all that it contains amino acid tryptophan, which can help regulate people's appetite, sleep and moods. Millet can be cooked as a grain like rice or barley, or as I used in this recipe, be ground to a flour. It doesn't make a perfect substitute for regular flour in recipes, usually needing to be mixed with other flours, but does make great, slightly crunchy and nutty flavoured pancakes. 

Hence, I came up with this recipe, having some millet flour to use, and not much experience using it in other recipes, I decided to make pikelets. This is my third time making them and I think I'm definitely onto a winner.

Ingredients

• 1 egg, whisked
• 3/4 milk
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 mashed ripe banana (I freeze mine, then thaw them as I need them) 
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup millet flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 kiwifruit
• 6-8 strawberries
• 6-8 mint leaves
• squeeze of lemon juice
• golden syrup (or any other syrup you like) 
• butter or oil for frying. 

Method

Whisk the egg quickly, add milk, spices, banana and sugar. Mix well. 

Add the flour and baking powder, mix well and put in fridge to chill for 30 mins... Use this time to get the salsa ready and any other morning chores. 

Use a paring knife to peel and dice the kiwifruit. Hull and dice the strawberries. 

Mix together with finely chopped mint leaves and a squeeze of lemon juice. Chill. 

Heat butter or oil (or a combination of both) in a heavy frypan over a medium heat. Drop about 1/4c at a time into the pan. Swirl the pan a little to spread the batter if necessary. Watch as small bubbles appear on the surface, once the bubbles pop, they are ready to flip. Cook for another minute or two on the other side. Place in a warm oven while you cook the rest. 

Serve stacked with salsa and a good drizzle of syrup on top. 

You could also serve with greek yogurt or whipped cream on the side. 

To make these finger food, place a single layer of pikelets on a serving tray. Put a dollop of cream or yogurt on top, followed by a small amount of the salsa. Drizzle with syrup and serve.