Crepes & Coconut/ Copra Na Pancake

Copra Na Pancake
khaman na pancake



I have chosen to celebrate reaching 300,000 hits today with this particular recipe of khaman na pancake because I feel it is where my journey as a chef truly started- with crepe-making as a young girl!! 

First published in1991 in a community cookbook called Manna of The Angels, it is one of my favourite tea-time treats and I hope it becomes one of your's too.

After having tasted many types of cuisines from around the world, I find myself still partial to the bold flavours and rich textures of Parsi food.  

Khaman-na-pancake is another "old time" favourite, which seems to have been lost in the enormous repertoire of Parsi foods. Delicate in flavour, the Copra (coconut) filling of the crepe, also referred to as Khaman (pronounced Kh-um- mun) is made up of fresh coconut, sweetened with sugar, flavoured with cardamom, nutmeg and rose water, and mixed with raisins, pistachios and almonds. It has ingredients of Persian origin with a true touch of the Indian sub–continent - reflecting well on our culture and heritage.

My oldly worldly Khumman na Pancake in the 21st Century

Khaman na Pancake | Coconut-filled Crêpes

This recipe is particularly meaningful to me, because I feel it is where my journey as a chef truly started—with making crêpes as a young girl in my Karachi kitchen.
Khaman na pancake is another old-time favourite, which seems to have been lost in the enormous repertoire of Parsi foods. Delicate in flavour, khaman is made up of fresh coconut sweetened with sugar, flavoured with cardamom, nutmeg, and rose water, and mixed with raisins, pistachios, and almonds. It has ingredients of Persian origin with a touch of the Indian subcontinent, reflecting well our culture and heritage. The same khaman can be used to fill the copra ni ghari and also khaman na larva - traditionally prepared for the pug ladoo ceremony as the babies start to walk.

There is no specific word for crepes in Gujarati hence the word pancake is used. The khaman na pancakes are extremely thin and not the thick ones typically envisioned with pancakes.

Makes 10 pancakes

The Coconut Filling

2 scraped coconuts; 2 cups or more
1 tsp salted butter
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup coconut water
1/4 cup rose water
1/2 cup dry fruit and nuts, raisins, peeled chopped pistachios and almonds 
pinch of salt

1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp nutmeg

In a pan, heat the coconut, butter, sugar, and coconut water. Stir to mix well. Cook until the coconut has softened. Add the rose water, salt, cardamom, and nutmeg. Simmer and continue cooking until it is sticky and comes together. Cool completely before filling and rolling the ten pancakes. Serve warm.

The Crepe - Pancake

In a bowl beat

2 eggs until frothy and light

In another bowl mix together
1/2 cup sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup warm milk
2 tbsp melted salted butter

When smooth and free of lumps, add the beaten egg to the mixture and stir to combine.

Heat a crepe pan. Add a touch of butter, pour in 1/10^th of the batter, swirl the pan to spread the batter evenly. Cook for a minute on high heat before flipping. Keep aside Repeat.

Tips

Desiccated coconut does not work in this recipe. Frozen packets of fresh coconut flesh, available in stores, are recommended instead.

Rose water must not be an essence but the actual water made from the roses.

If you can not get fresh coconut water, alternate it with water and flavour it with vanilla.

This can be made up to 7 days in advance and kept refrigerated.

To beat the eggs properly, use clean beaters and eggs that are at room temperature. 
Warming the milk helps avoid a lumpy batter. Allowing it to rest for 30 minutes gives the gluten time to thicken. 
Keep the pan extremely hot before adding the batter. It should start cooking on contact. 

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on Amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is a 3 award winning book. It has been self published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Vegetarian Parsi, inspired by tradition is an award winning cookbook. It was published by Spenta Multimedia India and is available on Amazon India and through email order at thevegetarianparsi@gmail.com.

The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through amazon book depot book depository and from the publishers.

Niloufer's Kitchen: Quick and Easy http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HBSBLI4

Photo credit Niloufer Mavalvala

A reader Kainaz Patell has sent me her version of using the khaman to share.

Khaman used in her bread 

Khaman lightly coloured with Rose syrup