Dutch pancake

I love this recipe as it's perfect when you are time poor and feel like its a pancake kind of day. As I'm on my last legs of my pregnancy, everyday is a pancake kind of day.

This pancake is baked at high temperature in a skillet where it puffs up in the oven then settles down as it comes out. Typically served with a dusting of icing sugar, whipped cream and lemon wedges on the side. It's so delicious.

I love to whip this pancake up and throw whatever fresh fruit I have in the fridge. Today's option was juicy sweet figs.

Makes 1 large pancake

Ingredients

3 eggs
1/3 cup of milk
1/3 cup yoghurt
2 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
1/2 cup of plan flour

1 tbs of melted butter for the pan

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celcius.

2. With a mixer beat the eggs, adding the milk, yoghurt, sugar, salt and vanilla until sugar has dissolved.

3. Add flour and mix until smooth.

4. Use an ovensafe frypan and coat the bottom of the pan with the melted butter.

5. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top and dark brown around the edges. (Pancake will rise whilst cooking and deflate once removed to cool.)

Beware the frypan handle is HOT. Use oven mitts to handle the hot handle or else you'll burn your palms. Something I haven't forgotten in a hurry.

6. Loosen the pancake around the edges with a couple of shakes of the frypan and slide out of the pan onto a plate.

7. Serve with fresh fruit, a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Handy hints
You can substitute 1/4 cup of yoghurt with thickened cream which will still give you a fluffy texture. But as I have yoghurt in my fridge at all times, this is what I use.

Light and fluffy superhero pancakes

What is it about the golden brown, crisp on the edges, light and fluffy centre, that has you coming back for more? That's right, I'm talking about the all time favourite, pancakes.

This pancake recipe is extra light and fluffy with a balance of just the right amount of baking powder and baking soda giving the pancakes light texture and golden brown colour.

 

It's also not too bad in making fun characters for the kids too. My sister set me a rather large challenge to cook pancakes like a boss with superheroes such as all the characters from Avengers.

I took the challenge on and asked the kids what they wanted, this varied from Pokémon, George Pig and Baymax so I did all three, of course.

So what do you think of my creations?


Makes about 20 pancakes or 10 the kids' fave characters

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar


Wet ingredients
2 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups buttermilk*
1 cup of unsweetened yoghurt (I use Greek Yoghurt)
4 tablespoons coconut oil (or if you want to be more decadent use butter), plus more for serving


To serve
Maple syrup

Method

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until mixed through.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the egg yolks, buttermilk, and yoghurt until mixed through. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter/coconut oil while whisking

3. Carefully fold in the egg whites with a rubber spatula until just combined. Pour the mixture over the dry mix and fold until just combined (there should still be plenty of lumps).

4. Using a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

5. Heat a large heavy-bottomed non-stick frypan over medium heat for 5 minutes

6. Add a small amount of butter or oil to the frypan.

7. Use a 1⁄4 measuring cup to place 4 pancakes in the pan and cook until bubbles start to appear on top and the bottoms are golden brown, This will take about 2 minutes.

8.  Carefully flip the pancakes and cook on the other side until golden brown. This will take about 2 minutes too.

9. Serve the pancakes immediately, or keep warm on a wire rack set in a warm oven while you cook the remaining batches.

10. Serve with maple syrup and butter.


Handy hints

* You can easily make buttermilk using milk and vinegar.
1. Place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.

How to draw characters
If you are going to make characters, my tips are to keep the frypan hot to ensure the outline is noticeable. Work reasonably fast as it's hot work.

Place the batter mix into a squeezie bottle (say an empty tomato sauce).
Draw the outline of your choice of character, freehand of course.
Add details such as the eyes, ears, hands, feet first and leave for a 1 minute.
Fill in the spaces with the remaining batter and wait for the bubbles to come up before turning over.

 

Roti canai and murtabak

I must have been living under a rock when it comes to discovering the dish, murtabak. I remember my first experience at Rumah Indo Restaurant and thinking to myself that this was one tasty dish that I need to learn to replicate.

It's been a weekend of relaxing, picking up 2 Japanese maple trees to add to our garden and trialling a new recipe or two. I was going to attempt to make roti canai and from there I was going to make the filling for the murtabak.

Roti canai is a flatbread that is served with curry throughout southeast Asia. Whereas murtabak is a stuffed pancake made with roti canai and comes in many variations either sweet or savoury.

There are many different recipes available and I did have to look up a few youtube videos to get the hang of flipping the dough. Pepe and I were having competitions to see who could flip the dough better. Quoting the words of my Mr4 year old, "I think, Mummy win".

Start the roti canai the night before, so it will be perfect for breakfast.

Makes 8 serves

Roti canai

Ingredients

450g plain flour
3 tbs ghee

Wet ingredients
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
250mL water

Method

1. Combine the egg, sugar, salt and water into a bowl, stirring to combine.

2. Place flour into a stand mixer with a dough attachment and pour the wet ingredients in. This mixture will form into dough.

3. Let the dough be kneaded for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

4. Grease the work surface with a 2 tsp of ghee.

5. Roll the dough into a sausage and divide into 8 equal pieces.

6. Shape the dough into a ball, rubbing with ghee as you go.

7. Place the balls on tray lined with baking paper and cover with plastic wrap. (Make sure it's wrapped well.)

8. Set aside in a warm place to prove overnight.

Murtabak

Ingredients

1 tbs coconut oil
2 brown onions finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tbs of finely chopped ginger
1 & 1/2 tbs of mild curry powder (I used my curry korma powder for this)
500g lamb mince

1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 egg

150mL ghee

Method

9. Heat 1 tbs of coconut oil in a wok over medium heat.

10. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and curry powder for 8 minutes until onions softened.

11. Add the lamb, sugar and salt. Breaking up the lamb as it cooks until the liquid has evaporated and the meat has browned (approximately 12 minutes).

12. Season to taste and remove from heat and stir in the egg.

13. Place a ball on the work surface brushed with a 1 tsp of ghee. With your hands flatten the dough to square shape.

14. Picking up one corner of the dough with one hand under the dough and other hand over, fling it over your shoulder then back onto the work surface. Move your hands to the next corner, flick the dough again for another two times. Until you have managed to flick the dough for each corner, a total of 4 times as a minimum. Or you can roll out the dough to a thin 30cm square.

15. Place the lamb mix into the centre of the stretched out dough. Brush ghee around the stretched dough with your hands. Fold in thirds. Fold the left hand side into the centre, then fold the right hand side into the centre. Fold in the ends to create a rough 12cm square parcel.

16. Heat 1 tbs of ghee into a fry pan over medium heat.

17. Place the parcel, folded side up first for 5-7 minutes, turning halfway to cook the other side for another 5-7 minutes until golden and cooked through.

18. Repeat with remaining roti canai dough and follow the steps through from 13.

19. Serve with pickled onions and coriander and a side of red lentil dahl.

 

 

Handy hints

You can also make sweet roti canai. Instead of the murtabak filling, spread a thin layer of jam, fold up into a square parcel and cook with 1 tbs of ghee. A dusting of icing sugar to serve was a hit with the kids.

Don't over handle the dough, once the dough has been flung, don't attempt to re-roll into ball as it will have lost its elasticity. Pepe learnt this lesson.

When you shape the dough, make the edges thinner before you fling it, as this ensures you don't have to deal with thick edges later.

If you get holes in the edges of your roti canai dough, just fold over a little dough to cover it and either fling it again or stretch it out.

Curry korma powder is available at Harris Farm or at supermarkets in the spice section.

Check out my pickled onion recipe in the next post. I'll also post a the red lentil recipe as well.

My favourite fluffy ricotta pancakes

Pancakes are always great fun and on this particular Sunday, I thought I'd treat my family to my favourite breakfast of fluffy ricotta pancakes. The ricotta makes these pancakes moist served up with a dollop of my mango and lemon curd, its too good to say no.

Makes 8 to 10 pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
zest of 1 lemon or orange just for that citrus zing

 

Method 

1. Add dry ingredients together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a small bowl.

2. Combine wet ingredients of ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla in a separate, larger mixing bowl.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, add the zest of orange or lemon, stirring gently until just combined. 

4. Beat the egg whites with a mixer until stiff.

5. Stir a small scoop of the egg whites into the pancake batter to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining egg white with a spatula.

6. Heat a fry pan over medium-high heat. Melt a small bit of butter/or 1tbsp of olive oil in the pan, just enough to coat the surface.

7. Use a 1/4 cup measure to pour batter onto the fry pan. I usually try and fit at least 4 circles on the fry pan. Cook the pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, until the undersides are golden and you see a few bubbles popping through the pancakes. Flip the pancakes and cook another 2 to 3 minutes, until golden.

8. Repeat with the remaining pancakes.

9. Serve the pancakes immediately with maple syrup, jam or lemon and mango curd.

Handy hints

If you have a handheld mixer, it's very easy to beat the small amount of eggwhites. You don't even need mixer if you have some muscle nearby to whip the eggwhites for you. If you have a stand mixer, start on low speed and gradually increase to the highest speed as the whites start to form bubbles and thicken.

If your ricotta seems to have a lot of liquid, set it in a fine mesh strainer to drain off excess liquid about 30 minutes before you start cooking.

Best Strawberry Muffins Ever

Looking for a moist cupcake recipe then look no further.

Getting two punnets of strawberries for the bargain price of $5, I thought it was would be a nice weekend surprise to make strawberry muffins for breakfast. I love the smell of sweet strawberries and it was a treat to have these straight out of the oven. The texture and taste of these moist muffins is worth every minute when I can enjoy a cup of coffee momentarily whilst my family demolishes them.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of almond meal
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/4 cup of melted coconut oil
Juice and zest from 1/2 lemon 
1 tsp of vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup of diced strawberries and a little extra to place on top

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees
2. Mix dry ingredients together and then add wet ingredients.  Mix well until everything is completely blended together. 
3. Place baking cups into muffin tray. Scoop enough muffin batter to fill each muffin tin about 3/4 of the way full.  Add a few more diced strawberries on top if you wish. 
4. Bake for 20-22 minutes

 

Handy tips 

 

If you overfill your muffin tray with batter, your muffins will puff up and spill over, so it's best to under fill rather than overfill with this recipe. 

Puffed fruit pancake

This is a family favourite especially for a lazy morning start on the weekend. As my boys have a hearty appetite, this is a great pudding like pancake to keep their hunger at bay til lunch. This dish is fabulous with any fruit. I've tried it with Granny Smiths apples, peaches, nectarine and with great results.

Serves 4

Ingredients

50g butter
6 white flesh nectarines, cut into half and then into thirds again (can use any fruit in season)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
90g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon sugar
3 eggs
185mL milk

To serve

Greek yoghurt (for a treat for the kids, I serve this up with a swirl of maple syrup or honey)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celcius,
2. Melt the butter in a 25 cm frying pan with an ovenproof handle.
3. Add fruit and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
4. Add brown sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice and cook. Shake pan occasionally until sugar has dissolved.
5. Mix flour, salt, lemon zest and sugar together in a large bowl.
6. Make a well in the centre and slowly add eggs and milk, whisking lightly to combine. (Don't worry about the lumps that form)
7. Pour batter even over the fruit (it's fine if the fruit shows through).
8 Place the pan in the oven for 15 minutes until puffed and golden.
9. Serve immediately with yoghurt.