I've flipped. In preparation for Pancake Day on Tuesday, I'm looking to better my batter in every way – thick ones, thin ones, lacy ones and puffed up ones, batters speckled with herbs, mixed with mashed veg or made from slowly fermented puréed rice. I've been flat out to make it the best PCDever.
Grain ground to a flour, moistened with water, milk and/or eggs and cooked quickly forms some of the earliest food known to humankind. The first kind of bread was surely apancake of sorts – a wet dough spread over a hot rock, perhaps. Andonce the actual pan arrived – some kind of disc of beaten metal, heated on the fire – the pancake maker became an instant gourmet. It must have been impossible not toexperiment, adding all sorts of seeds, leaves and chopped-up roots, and serving with fruit, meat, honey and combinations thereof.
The earliest true pancake recipe was recorded in Apicius, a collection of Roman recipes thought to be from the fourth or fifth century AD – it suggests serving them with honey and pepper, which sounds pretty good to me. In fact, you could trace a rather delicious map of the world in pancakes – from Russian buckwheat blinis to can't-be-too-thin French crêpes, lacy Indian dosas and fluffy American breakfast pancakes.
In this country, we traditionally make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday to use up sugar, eggs, milk and fat before Lent. But in our house they're much more than a once-a-year treat. The kids love to help out, stirring and flipping and, of course, guzzling. And, having a French wife, it's not just the recipe and method that causes sizzling debate in our house, but what goes on them. I'm usually a lemon and sugar man myself, but there are members of this household who insist on jam and even Nutella; and sometimes they're made more substantial with the addition of bananas or fruit compote. But if I'm honest, it's often as much the making of them as the eating of them that we love – Idefy anyone to feel miserable while attempting to toss a pancake.
It's not just thin, crêpe-style pancakes that are the objects of our affections. We love fat breakfast pancakes (see today's recipe using sweet potato), nutty buckwheat galettes and most certainly we lovethat sublime pancake-batter-with-aspirations in the form of the glorious yorkshire pudding.
There are few rules in this flattie free-for-all. For perfection, don't stress the batter. Treat it tenderly and don't overmix, particularly if you're adding seasonings after the resting stage, as with the herby yorkshires. And accept that the first pancake will be rubbish. That's it.
Sweet potato pancakes
A delicious way to start the day. Tomake a more indulgent weekend breakfast, add a few rashers of crisp bacon. Makes about 12 pancakes.
180g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp salt
300g cooked sweet potato, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60g butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus a little more for frying
Butter, honey and toasted walnuts (optional; bake a handful or two of shelled nuts at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for six to eight minutes), forserving
Sift the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, ginger and salt into a bowl. Beat together the sweet potato, eggs and butter in a separate bowl, then fold in the flour mixture, stirring just until combined – the batter will be quite stiff. Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat and add a small knob of butter. Rub off any excess with a wad of kitchen paper. Drop the mixture into the pan in large tablespoonfuls, pressing them down gently with the back of the spoon to form a nice round. Fry for about four minutes a side, until browned on both sides. Serve spread with butter, trickled with honey and with the toasted walnuts scattered on top, ifyou're using them.
Yorkshire pudding
Of course, these are delicious in their pure state, but the addition of mustard powder and finely chopped herbs is a tasty variation. Makes 12 small yorkshires or one large one.
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Milk
Plain flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp English mustard powder
Fat for cooking – beef dripping, lard or goose fat work well
2 tbsp finely chopped chives, parsley or thyme, or a combination
Weigh the beaten eggs, then measure out the same amount of milk and flour. Sift the flour, salt and mustard powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and slowly stir in the eggsand milk until the batter is the consistency of single cream. Leave to rest for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gasmark 7. Five minutes before you want to cook the yorkshire pudding, put the beef dripping, lard or goose fat into a large roasting tin (or into each hole of a 12-hole bun tin) and pop into the oven to heat up. Gently stir the herbs into the batter, pour the batter into the tin and quickly return to the oven. Cook until puffed up and golden – about 12 minutes for small yorkshire puds, upto 25 for one in a large tin.
Dosas
Making dosas, the tasty pancakes that accompany lots of South Indian food, is an enjoyable weekend project – you need to leave the batter to ferment for a day or so. Serve with fresh Indian chutneys, stuffed with fried, spicy potatoes or even simply sprinkled with sugar. They're a good alternative for the gluten-intolerant because they contain no wheat. You can buy uraddal from Indian grocers. Makesnine to 12 dosas.
210g long-grain white rice
70g urad dal, or white split lentils
Pinch of sugar
1 tsp salt
Vegetable oil, for frying
Rinse the rice and dal separately and put each in a separate bowl. Fill with water to cover by 5cm and leave to soak for six hours or overnight.
Drain the lentils and purée in afood processor with just enough water to turn them into a smooth, fluffy paste – this will take about three minutes – then tip into alarge bowl. Drain the rice and purée in the food processor with a splash of water until they form a paste – about one minute (it will be slightly gritty). Stir the rice into the lentils, along with a pinch of sugar. Add just enough water so that the mixture has roughly the consistency of thick cream and coats the back of a spoon.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave to ferment in a warm room forabout 24 hours – the mixture should look foamy after this time. Gently stir in the salt (don't add the salt earlier, otherwise it will slow downthe fermentation).
Warm a frying pan over a medium heat, pour in a little oil and carefully use a wad of kitchen paper to remove any excess. When the pan is hot but not smoking, pour aladleful of batter into the pan, using the bottom of the ladle to swirl the batter into a circle. The edges may become lacy and bubbly, which is fine. Gently trickle a little oil around the edge and over the top of the dosa with a basting brush. When the underside is golden – after about three or four minutes – turn the dosa over with a spatula and cook for afurther couple of minutes or so until the other side is pale golden, too. Transfer the cooked dosa to abaking tray lined with parchment and keep hot, loosely covered with foil, in a warm oven while you make the rest – separate each dosa with asquare ofparchment as you go.
Classic pancakes
This is the approximate recipe we use at home for thin, crêpe-style pancakes. The batter will thicken as it rests, so if necessary gently stir in more milk until it's the consistency of single cream. Makes about 20.
200g plain flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
About 500ml milk
A knob of butter or a little vegetable oil, for frying
Lemons and caster sugar, for serving
Sift the flour into a bowl. Beat in theeggs and enough milk to make abatter that's the consistency of single cream.
Heat a frying pan until very hot. Add the butter or oil and wipe off any excess with a wad of kitchen paper. Add a ladle of batter, tipping and tilting the pan so it's evenly coated. The underside is done when you can lift it to see its golden underside. Flip or toss it over and cook theother side for barely a minute. Place on a warmed plate while you repeat with the rest of thebatter. Serve with lemons and caster sugar
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