Pancakes anyone?
Today is Shrove Tuesday; also called Pancake Day.
It is easy to prepare and a favourite with most kids. Keep a box full of measured dry ingredients in your store cupboard and you will have a ready to whip up batch of fresh pancake available at all times.
Simple and fool proof it is probably the best recipe to start your children cooking with.
The legend of Shrove Tuesday started in the Middle Ages when one had a feast for 3 days; starting Sunday and ending it on the Tuesday night. This was in order to prevent wastage by eating all things perishable before fasting began for Lent going on for the next 40 days until Easter.
However some of these traditions have changed since the 20th Century; It is now referred to as Pancake Day and is only focused on the Shrove Tuesday itself.
The French like to call it Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras!! I love the French and their penchant for keeping the "curves" in style.
Pancakes are universal. Most countries have their own version and names of pancakes; chaapat (also a part of my cookbook The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine) pannekoek, lahoh, palacinky, blinchiki, pfannkuchen, chachapa, crepes, dossa etc. etc. They can be either leavened or unleavened, using any combination of flour choices like wholewheat, plain, buckwheat, spelt, rice and offer it in their traditionally special ways.
11/4 cup sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
1 1/4 cup tepid warm milk
1 1/4 tbsp melted salted butter
Mix until smooth. Do not over beat.
Allow the batter to rest for 30 minutes.
Heat a skillet. Brush it with butter or oil. Take a large spoonful of the batter.
Hold it over the pan tilt it straight down and all the batter to drop in one large stream. It will automatically become round;(Perhaps not perfectly round). Allow the pancake to cook for 1 minute.
Flip over. Cook for 30 seconds.
Remove in a plate. Serve warm with Maple Syrup, Golden Syrup, berries, butter, cream, honey, cream cheese and bananas, any combination you love.
Tips
This quantity will make about 12 pancakes.
I like to mix and store the dry ingredients in an airtight box in my pantry.
Take a large measuring cup and use that to mix it all in with a whisk. You can leave it in there ready to use or keep the left over covered for up to 3 days.
Do not try and change the shape of the pancake once it has been poured. It does not work!
Only a pancake maker will prepare perfectly circular pancakes.
Keep the flame on medium-high. The flame should not be larger than the base of your skillet.
Bubbles will come up on the pancake which is time to flip it over.
For more on crepes and a variety of recipes
click Niloufer's Kitchen: French Bistro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2KMB4C
Mushrooms Crepes
Sweet coconut crepes
Read more about Parsi Food and its origins in my cookbook
The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.
Today is Shrove Tuesday; also called Pancake Day.
It is easy to prepare and a favourite with most kids. Keep a box full of measured dry ingredients in your store cupboard and you will have a ready to whip up batch of fresh pancake available at all times.
Simple and fool proof it is probably the best recipe to start your children cooking with.
The legend of Shrove Tuesday started in the Middle Ages when one had a feast for 3 days; starting Sunday and ending it on the Tuesday night. This was in order to prevent wastage by eating all things perishable before fasting began for Lent going on for the next 40 days until Easter.
However some of these traditions have changed since the 20th Century; It is now referred to as Pancake Day and is only focused on the Shrove Tuesday itself.
The French like to call it Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras!! I love the French and their penchant for keeping the "curves" in style.
Pancakes are universal. Most countries have their own version and names of pancakes; chaapat (also a part of my cookbook The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine) pannekoek, lahoh, palacinky, blinchiki, pfannkuchen, chachapa, crepes, dossa etc. etc. They can be either leavened or unleavened, using any combination of flour choices like wholewheat, plain, buckwheat, spelt, rice and offer it in their traditionally special ways.
11/4 cup sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
1 1/4 cup tepid warm milk
1 1/4 tbsp melted salted butter
Mix until smooth. Do not over beat.
Allow the batter to rest for 30 minutes.
Heat a skillet. Brush it with butter or oil. Take a large spoonful of the batter.
Hold it over the pan tilt it straight down and all the batter to drop in one large stream. It will automatically become round;(Perhaps not perfectly round). Allow the pancake to cook for 1 minute.
Flip over. Cook for 30 seconds.
Remove in a plate. Serve warm with Maple Syrup, Golden Syrup, berries, butter, cream, honey, cream cheese and bananas, any combination you love.
Tips
This quantity will make about 12 pancakes.
I like to mix and store the dry ingredients in an airtight box in my pantry.
Take a large measuring cup and use that to mix it all in with a whisk. You can leave it in there ready to use or keep the left over covered for up to 3 days.
Do not try and change the shape of the pancake once it has been poured. It does not work!
Only a pancake maker will prepare perfectly circular pancakes.
Keep the flame on medium-high. The flame should not be larger than the base of your skillet.
Bubbles will come up on the pancake which is time to flip it over.
For more on crepes and a variety of recipes
click Niloufer's Kitchen: French Bistro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2KMB4C
Mushrooms Crepes
Sweet coconut crepes
Read more about Parsi Food and its origins in my cookbook
The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.
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