Chia Flapjacks With Strawberry Salsa

Are You Looking For A Healthy Flapjack Recipe?

You will find it here. You can skip the maple syrup in favour of the delicious, healthy strawberry salsa; this will give your healthy flapjack recipe and a bit of spice, which is great for boosting your metabolism during this cold winter.

Strawberries Health Benefits

Strawberries have many great benefits for your health. Among fruit, strawberries are 4th highest behind blackberries, cranberries, and regarding antioxidant capacity. They have also been shown to decrease blood sugar levels, which is great if you have type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure. It is recommended that strawberries, along with other types of berries, are consumed 3-4 times per week to take advantage of their health properties.

Don't Keep Strawberries Too Long

However, do also note that it’s best to eat strawberries within two days of buying them, or they will start to lose their vitamin C and polyphenols, which contain the antioxidants. Put the strawberries inside your fridge’s storage bins to give them more humidity. Most fridges have between 80 and 90% humidity, whereas strawberries have an optimal percentage of between 90-95.

Healthy Flapjack Recipe Incorporates Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are an easy and convenient way to boost the nutrition of any dessert. Chia is part of the mint family, and the seeds are native to Mexico and Guatemala. Scientists have been studying the properties of chia since the early 90s, and they have been shown to boost energy, stabilise blood sugar, decrease cholesterol, and help digestion.

By aiding digestion chia has been demonstrated to be a potential treatment for type-2 diabetes, because they prevent blood sugar spikes. They also contain a high amount of fibre, 11 grammes per 28 grammes of chia. They can be simply sprinkled on salads and cereals to get their healthy benefits.

Chia seeds also have calcium and omega-3 essential fatty acids. The recipe below has 1/3 cup of chia seeds, which will give you all these benefits, chia seeds are tasteless and odourless but add a pleasant crunch to the texture of the flapjack.

Ingredients For Chia Flapjacks & Strawberry Salsa

Ingredients For Strawberry Salsa

•  1 lb or 450g. strawberries, hulled and diced
•  1 tbsp. lime juice, freshly squeezed if possible, but bottled works too.
•  1/2 tsp. white sugar is best but you can use brown sugar
•  A good pinch natural sea salt, table salt is ok
•  3-4 good sized basil leaves, this can be adjusted according to taste
•  2 serano chiles, stemmed, diced (Note that you may remove the seeds from these chiles before chopping if you prefer to lessen their heat.)

Ingredients for the flapjacks

•  1/3 cup chia seeds
•  1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
•  3 tbsp. white sugar, granulated
•  1 tsp. baking powder
•  1/2 tsp. baking soda
•  1/2 tsp. salt
•  1 1/4 cup whole milk
•  1 large egg or 2 small
•  2 tbsp. vegetable oil + more for frying (optional)
•  1 vanilla pod, this can be substituted with a teaspoon of extract

How To Make Healthy Flapjacks

1. To prepare the salsa, place the strawberry pieces, lime juice, sugar and salt in a large bowl, stir together, and set aside to soften for  30 minutes.      
2. After half an hour, stir in the basil and chile pieces. Note that this salsa may be stored in a covered container, preferably a glass jar, for up to two weeks in the refrigerator, and, in fact, its flavour improves and deepens with time.
3. To prepare the flapjacks, place the chia in a clean, dry pot or pan over a medium flame and, frequently tossing, toast for 2-4 minutes or until the seeds have deepened in colour and are fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
4. Whisk the milk, egg, two tablespoons of vegetable oil and vanilla extract together in another large bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing just until you have a smooth, uniform batter. Fold in the chia seeds.
5. To fry the flapjacks, heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over a medium flame. Note that perfect preparing pancake depends to a large degree on the type of cooking vessel you are using: If you are using a nonstick griddle or pan, you will likely not need to grease it with any additional oil. If you are using cast iron or stainless steel, you may want to consider adding one tablespoon of oil to the pan before frying each batch of pancakes. Either way be sure not to heat your pan over too high a flame, or the cakes will burn on the outside without cooking through on the inside.
6. Once your pan or griddle is heated, portion the batter out onto the cooking surface (I chose to make larger cakes by using a quarter cup measure here). Cook for just one to one and a half minutes on each side; finished cakes will be puffed and golden brown across their tops and bottoms. Remove cooked flapjacks and repeat with additional batches as necessary. These flapjacks are best served straight from the pan or griddle, topped with strawberry salsa.

Recipe Quantities

This recipe will provide about eight good sized flapjacks, the mixture can go further by making smaller sized flapjacks.