Ripe breadfruit
In Hawaii, ulu is one of those food you should learn to love. This breadfruit pancake recipe is perfect for ripe ulu. Once picked breadfruit have a relatively short shelf life in their “green” or unripe state. After just a few days the flesh becomes mushy and soft and fragrant and sweet. Most recipes feature the green breadfruit as a starch like potato, ulu chips, fries, breadfruit flour, like a potato in soup, cooked in an imu until soft. However, fewer people choose to utilize the ripe breadfruit. I had a roomate that used to make a species of ripe ulu bread. While it was ok fresh and warm I liked it enough but, I found when it got cold I didnt care for it. It’s funny, according to my husband, the opposite is true for my breadfruit pancakes. He doesn’t like my ulu pancakes when they are fresh out of the pan. Instead he prefers them (if at all) when they are cold. I like them both ways. It guess, my point here is that ripe ulu can be somewhat of an acquired taste. It has a somewhat strange aftertaste that is pleasant if you decide that is it pleasant. Haha.
Breadfruit in Hawaii
Breadfruit not only grows easily here, can be found roadside, in gulches, and in tropic forests, but they are abundant. Each can produce 50-150 fruits a year that can range anywhere from 1-11 pounds. Some trees have even been noted as producing up to 700 fruits per year. So really, it is smart to have a small arsenal of ulu recipes for when your neighborhood tree starts going off. For a thorough history of breadfruit in Hawaii see this publication by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Nutrition at the University of Hawaii.
Tips for making breadfruit pancakes
I’ve been working on this breadfruit pancake recipe for a while. Originally, I made these without any added flour. But, they take a really long time to cook and a very very mushy still. So finally I’ve dialed in this recipe to include just a bit of cassava flour. Not tapioca starch, which is much more fine a gummy. Cassava flour is milled straight from shredded and dried cassava. That aside, you can use and flour you’d like. Just make sure you are familiar with how the flour reacts. For example, white rice flour is also very fine and a little gummy. This would have a total different effect that oat flour which is lighter and more airy. I also enjoy using eggs in this recipe for added protein and vitamins. But you could try using flax eggs to keep the recipe vegan.
Ulu Pancakes (Breadfruit Pancakes)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 medium-large Breadfruit (Ulu) Very soft & Ripe
- 2 medium eggs
- 1 cup milk, dairy free milk like almond works great
- 1/2 cup cassava flour or any other flour of choice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 dash nutmeg
- 1 splash vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder aluminum free!
Instructions
- Scoop flesh out of ulu into blender (should be about 3 cups of gooey flesh). Look at your blender's measuring lines on the side. If its more or less you will want to adjust the milk and flour you add.
- Add eggs, spices, milk, vanilla, baking powder to blender and blend until smooth
- Remove batter from blender into medium bowl. Add Flour.
- Heat large pan with coconut oil on medium or medium to low heat
- Pour pancake batter into pan with heated oil. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side.
- Pancakes will be a little gooey but as long as they've cooked for about 6 minutes eggs should be cooked through.
Thank you for this recipe! Made it this morning and turned out great. I used flax eggs, and they still cooked up well. It’s always hard to find pancake recipes for our anti-candida diet that taste good too. I appreciate people like you who are willing to share their discoveries!
That’s great! I will try this with flax eggs!