We love shawarma. But we hardly ever eat it. Traditionally, it’s eaten with pita bread, with the meat stuffed inside the bread, along with lettuce, coleslaw and sauces. So, the biggest part of that meal, is a bread.

Pita bread

Just until recently, the boys didn’t care much for pita bread. And as I try to balance my carb intake, I’m not too keen to eat bread for dinner (I’m not strictly on low carb, though). But when I did our groceries, I got drawn to this week’s promo… 1 kg of shawarma. I couldn’t help myself, I had to buy it.

Side dish

So now there it was, 1 kg of shawarma, sitting in my fridge, waiting for me to make it into a meal. I thought about a quinoa dish. Definitely a good one, just not today. We just had quinoa. Cauli-rice? Yeah, maybe. But I have to be honest here. I was not only craving shawarma MEAT, by now, I was also craving the whole pita-shawarma-lettuce-sauces combo. Oh, darn. What to do? (Obviously, I hadn’t bought any pita bread)

Chickpea flour

I have started to experiment with chickpea flour, also known as gram flour or besan. Chickpea flour is made of ground, dried chickpeas. It’s high in protein (about 21 g of protein per 100g of flour) and fibre (17 g per 100 g), relatively low in carbohydrates if compared to other flours (about 45 g per 100 g) and has a lower GI (glycaemic index, which indicates the immediate effect on blood sugar levels), 35 compared to 85 of white wheat flour (source: http://weightdestiny.com/glycemic-index-of-food/). It’s a great alternative if you want to avoid gluten and refined carbohydrates.

Chickpea pancakes

Back to my dinner dilemma. Still had not figured out what to eat with the shawarma. Checking the fridge, I saw that I had half a bottle of egg whites left, which I had to use up soon. Could I combine those? It’s worth a try. If it didn’t work out, I could still make some cauli-rice. So, I made some sort of batter, added a few spices, tried one pancake first and the result? Whoa, tasty!! Fluffy!! Great little pancake! Made the whole batch and the rest is history.

Ingredients

8 egg whites

100 g chickpea flour (gram flour)

pinch of salt, pepper, paprika*

Instructions

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.

Sift the chickpea flour onto the egg whites.

Add a pinch of salt, pepper and paprika.*

Gently fold the flour into the egg whites, make sure it’s well combined and no large lumps remain.

Heat a little bit of oil or butter in a non-stick pan and bake about three pancakes at a time, about 1-2 minutes on each side, until they are a nice light golden colour.

Enjoy with anything you fancy!

*You don’t need a lot of salt or spices, a pinch goes a long way in this recipe.

When it was time for dinner, first reaction of the boys was: YEAH, PANCAKES! Uhm, yes pancakes. But not like you know them. And no, you can’t have syrup with those. Try them, they are good with shawarma and chili sauce.

Yummy, nice! I think we have a winner! I got about 14 pancakes out of the batter and they were all gone in the blink of an eye.

Kids ate them like small tortillas, ‘rolled up’ with the meat inside. I made a nice little stack with one on the bottom and one on the top, filled with loads of lettuce, shawarma and sauces.

This is nice with any other meats or fish as well. Try them with stir fried beef strips, shredded chicken, minced beef or turkey… combinations are endless. These pancakes are here to stay!

Enjoy!

If you like these pancakes, you might also like these low-carb Hamburger Buns.

5 from 1 vote

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Chickpea Pancakes

Servings 14 pancakes

Author Nicole

Ingredients

• 8 egg whites
• 100 g chickpea flour (gram flour)
• pinch of salt, pepper, paprika*

Instructions

1. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.

2. Sift the chickpea flour onto the egg whites.

3. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and paprika.*

4. Gently fold the flour into the egg whites, make sure it's well combined and no large lumps remain.

5. Heat a little bit of oil or butter in a non-stick pan and bake about three pancakes at a time, about 1-2 minutes on each side, until they are a nice light golden colour.

Recipe Notes

*You don't need a lot of salt or spices, a pinch goes a long way in this recipe.