It’s hard to eat low carb in Japan. Rice is everywhere, miso soup made my eyes bulge when I first saw how high the carb count was, and pretty much every other dish is fried, covered in sauce, or has a hidden potato in their just waiting to jump out and surprise you.
It’s hard… but it’s not impossible! One treat that Abbey and I love to make is almond flour pancakes. They’re easy, very low carb, and most importantly, absolutely delicious.
And best of all, they can be made in Japan. So LET’S GET COOKING!
If you want to go on the almond-pancake adventure, you’re going to need a few items first:
Ingredients: (to make one E X T R A T H I C C almond flour pancake)
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 grams salted butter
- A pinch of salt
- 200 grams berries
- 100 grams plain, full-fat yogurt
- 1/2 tsp baking power
- 1/4 tbsp baking soda
- 1.5 cups almond flower
Step 1: Crack the egg and mix its otherworldly, yolky contents
with the vanilla extract. Add a pinch of salt.
Step 2: Mix the almond flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in a separate bowl.
Optional Bonus Step: Spill almond flour everywhere
because you lack basic motor functions.
Step 3: Mix the egg/vanilla/salt mixture, and mix the flour/baking powder/baking soda. Both should stay in separate bowls for now. You can watch a pro do it here.
Once mixed, both bowls should look something like this.
If either mixture has begun talking to you, continue to mix until that stops.
Step 4: Pour the powder mixture into the liquid mixture, and MIX SOME MORE until it looks about like this. Abbey added chia seeds for extra fiber, because she loves pooping.
Step 5: Grease a bowl with some butter… (don’t use all of it, save some for later)
…and then pour in the batter. Now it’s time to zap it!
Step 6: Abbey and I are super lazy, so we just put the bowl in the microwave for six minutes. It makes them come out surprisingly soft, fluffy, and good.
After that, you’re done! You can bask in the glory of
your completed, totally non-sentient pancake.
All you have to do is hold the bowl upside-down, give it a firm shake (as if you were shaking the hand of your company’s president), and it should plop right out.
Then you can decorate! First spread the leftover butter, then use whatever toppings you want. We like to use plain, full-fat yogurt and mixed berries.
There’s only one way to describe this bad boy, and it rhymes with E X T R A S L I C K
Abbey gives her verdict on the pancakes.
So there you have it! If you want to have pancakes, but you’re in Japan, and you eat low-carb… which is probably not a lot of people, but hey! If that applies to you, then go ahead.
These pancakes are SHOCKINGLY filling. I remember when I used to eat normal wheat-flour pancakes, I could pound through four or five of those suckers with tons of butter and maple syrup and still be kind of hungry. But after just ONE of these, I’m done.
The calorie count is high, but if you think about it as a meal-and-a-half, or even two meals, then it’s not so bad. You can also cut the pancake in half lengthwise to make two thinner ones, or cook them as a couple smaller ones too.
If you give the recipe a try yourself, then let us know how it works out for you! And if your pancake came alive while baking… give our respects to your tasty new overlord.
(Approximate) Nutrition Facts:
- Serving Size: One E X T R A T H I C C pancake (with berries and yogurt)
- Calories: 1,119
- Fat: 90
- Protein: 40
- Carbohydrates: 48
- Fiber: 19
- Sugar: 29
If you want more stories about food and/or Japan, then join us when we stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 7:30pm-11:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Scott Wilson is the author of the novel Metl: The ANGEL Weapon,
forthcoming March 2019.