Porridge Oat Pancakes

With all the homemade jam piling up in the cupboard, its time for a sunday morning batch of pancakes. I don't mean the paper-thin crepe style of pancakes though. To me, pancakes are what the English call Scotch Pancakes, or Drop Scones.

These are very filling, packed as they are with slow carbs and fibre. They also freeze well, so its worth making a big batch on a slow Sunday morning and bagging some up for quick weekday breakfasts.

• 2 cups of Porridge Oats.
• 1 pint of milk.
• 4 eggs, beaten.
• 4 tbsp of vegetable oil.
• 1 cup of wholemeal flour.
• 2 tbsp of sugar.
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt.

Combine the oats and milk in a bowl and leave to soak for a few minutes.
Once the oats have swollen in the milk, stir in the oil and eggs.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix it all together.
Let stand for another few minutes to let the flour grains swell.
If the batter looks far too thick, add a little water or milk - but bear in mind that the oats make this batter more chunky than normal Scotch pancake batter.

Lightly grease and the heat your girdle (griddle for the English), or a nonstick frying pan.
Once water droplets fizzle and dance when scattered on the surface, turn down the heat.
Drop large spoonfuls of batter onto the girdle and spread out slightly with the back of a spoon.
As the pancakes cook, bubbles rise up through the batter and burst and refill with more liquid batter.
Once the bubbles stop refilling and start to leave holes instead, turn the pancake over and cook for another minute or so until the top is lightly speckled with brown.

Serve with jam for breakfast or afternoon tea.
Makes about 24 4-inch diameter pancakes, or more smaller ones.