3 pancake recipes to travel the world with
It’s amazing how a humble pancake can conjure up a sense of place. Crisp and moreish banana pancakes, for example, go hand-in-hand with a Koh Phangan beach. Thick hunks of Kaiserschmarren, dipped in fruit compote, take you straight to an alpine hut in the Dolomites. And as for the delicate waft of a Crepe Suzette – it could only be la belle Paris.
Below, Flash Pack’s tribe builder and resident foodie, Jenni Shaw, shares her favourite pancake recipes from around the world. Her delicious ideas tick off breakfast, lunch and dinner, so that you can dine out on pancakes for the whole day (or the entire week, come to that). All aboard for our wondrous culinary jaunt – and an adventure that you can relish without even leaving your kitchen…
Bali pancakes for brekkie
Jenni says: Whilst wanderlusting over Flash Pack’sBali adventure, I came across a fair few Instagram accounts of awesome healthy brunch spots, with pictures of the most wickedly naughty treats that were actually (apparently) wholesome. I was therefore inspired to a) book a flight (I leave in 6 weeks whoop!) and b) re-create these delicious looking pancakes that were taking up my Insta feed. I’ve fiddled around a bit with this recipe and am now confident that these are fit for any healthy Pancake Day table.
Ingredients
30g ground almonds
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 x banana
10ml almond milk
Toppings
Blueberries
Yogurt
Method
Whizz up all the pancake ingredients in a blender
Heat a non-stick pan and place 3 circles of mixture in it
Cook on each side until they start to brown slightly
Plate up and cover with a liberal helping of blueberries and yogurt
Colombian arepas for lunch
Jenni says: Travelling on Flash Pack’s awesome Colombian adventure last year, I was lucky enough to taste a lot of new things – including many different tyeps of arepa. I know that an arepa is not *exactly* a pancake, but in my mind, it is most definitely in the same family. And it ticks the savoury box, meaning that you can enjoy pancakes for all three meals on Shrove Tuesday. I love a bit of an experimentation in the kitchen so I have had a good few goes at these, but this latest incarnation of the recipe has definitely gone down best with my willing tasters.
Ingredients
150g instant polenta
1tsp salt
200ml boiling water (may not need it all!)
The filling
35g mozzarella
8 x cherry tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves
Method
Mix the polenta, salt and water together until it is a sticky dough-like consistency (add water slowly, as you may not need it all)
Leave to rest for 15 mins
Heat some olive oil in a pan
Split up the dough in to 3 inch diameter and ½ inch thick ‘pancakes’
Fry on each side until brown and crispy
Put them in a hot oven for about 15 mins to dry out and puff up
Take them out of the oven and you can then open them up and stuff with your mozzarella, tomatoes and basil leaves (the fillings are totally up to you!)
The classic French crepe for dinner
I am sure every family has got a recipe for the classic French crepe. But if I tell you that this one is passed down through generations and that my parents actually MOVED to Paris to facilitate some hardcore crepe research, will you believe me when I say it’s the best? (Full disclosure – their move might have been more about learning to speak the language than actually researching crepes alone…) I, of course, was happy to lend a hand with the pancake eating and I am transported back to balmy evenings in Paris, munching on a takeaway crepe, whenever we make these. They’re a great option for dinner, as they can be made either savoury or sweet.
Ingredients
150g plain flour
3 eggs
450ml skimmed milk
Pinch of salt
15g butter (melted)
Toppings
Savoury: Smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese
Sweet: Lemon juice and caster sugar
Method
Mix flour and salt together
Crack in eggs
Add 50ml milk and the melted butter to the batter and whisk until smooth (requires a bit of elbow grease!)
Keep adding milk in small doses until you have a batter
Leave to rest for 4-6 hours (this, I believe, is the key to the best crepes!)
Heat a bit of sunflower oil in a pan and ladle in the batter
Lift the pan and move the mixture around, so that it is equally covered in a thin layer of batter
Once the sides start coming away from the pan, make sure the whole pancake is loose and have a go at tossing it onto the other side
Once it is browned on each side, plate up with your choice of toppings
… And there you have it – three wanderlust-fuelled pancakes to make your day go with zing. Hurrah for midweek feasts!
Photos: Jenni Shaw/Shutterstock