Basin Bread

I frequently suffer from bouts of very low iron so am constantly thinking about high iron meals. One of my favourites is basin bread with sardines. It’s a meal which is quick and easy to make.

Chick peas are a whole grain (friendly for coeliacs and diabetics) which means that it releases energy slowly making it ideal for sehri (minus the salt and chilli). Iron wise they are very high in iron for a non heme (meat) source of iron 7mg per 100mg!

Basin Bread

8oz of basin / ground chick pea flour
Ground spices ½ a teaspoon of each: garlic, ginger, coriander, garam masala, cumin, chilli, salt
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 sliced onion
Fresh sliced green chilli to taste ( I used 1)
Fresh coriander leaves (optional)
Water to mix

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix in the water to make a batter slightly thinner than a pancake batter.
Mix in the sliced onion, chilli and coriander if using it.
Leave in the fridge for 30 mins to rest.
Heat up a small frying pan
Spray ‘spray oil’ in to a frying pan and then pour in the batter. Cook on one side before turning over to cook the other.
You can either cook the entire batch in one go or you can leave the batter in the fridge for up to a week and cook as you need them. If you do this, remember the batter will get spicier as time goes on.

I served mine with tinned sardines with a little squeezed lemon juice (vitamin C helps non-heme iron absorb into the body) with a little sliced spring onion.