Tuesday 11 October 2011

American Super-light Pancakes

Some foods can be so simple and easy to make yet taste great. One such food is these superlight American pancakes. I know pancakes are not something so great to blog and brag about, but this one worth a post. There are number of ways to make pancakes and they vary from region to region, and countries to countries. These pancakes appear on our breakfast table most weekends and we just love it.

This is one of the simplest breakfasts you can make; instant and doesn’t require any fermenting or any waiting. These are not thin like French crepes, but soft, wonderfully fluffy, thick and sweet pancakes; literally speaking, cakes made in a pan! Other day, I added two handfuls of fresh handpicked blackberries, crushed into the very same batter and made some blackberry pancakes. They were awesome with all the goodness and sweetness from the berries. This is one recipe where you can rechristen it the way you would fancy, like adding few sliced bananas, raisins or apples into the batter. I also tried adding some orange rinds along with half a teaspoon of vanilla in the batter and it was great with a hint of orangey flavour.
 
 
You can serve with you own choice of  berries, honey, maple syrup, clotted cream or toasted bananas. I always almost serve it along with maple syrup and toasted bananas, which are favourites so far. For toasting bananas, once you are done with pancakes, in the same pan add a knob of butter. Slit a banana into two and place it on the hot pan. Let it get cooked on one side for a minute until it gets slightly caramelized, and then flip over and cook on the other side for another minute or two. You really enhance the flavour of banana by cooking it. Try it. If you want to make caramelized bananas, add some sugar to pan. When it caramelize and take an amber colour, add slit bananas and then cook on both sides until covered all over with caramel.

Ingredients:
175g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
125g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence or 1 pod of vanilla bean scraped
250 mls milk, whole or semi-skimmed
A pinch of salt
Softened butter or vegetable oil for cooking
 Preparations:

1.Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar.
2. In another bowl, break eggs and gently whisk to break them up. Gradually add in milk and mix well. Add vanilla essence and mix again.
3. Make a well in the dry mixture. Gradually add this milk mixture in the flour; drawing the dry ingredients in as you whisk. Eventually you should have a slightly lumpy batter. Don’t  over mix the batter or it will make the pancakes heavy.
4. Heat a heavy non-stick frying pan until you feel a good heat rising. Add a small knob of butter and/or trickle a little oil along with butter, this will avoid burning of butter. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the batter into the pan. (If you want nice neat edges with perfect round shape, stand a 8 ½ cm (3 ¼”) round metal cutter in the pan to contain the batter. The resulting pancakes will resemble crumpets).
5. Cook until bubbles rise to the surface and the batter started getting firm. Loosen from the bottom of the pan and flip over for a few seconds to brown on the other side.
6. Repeat with the remaining batter, stacking the hot pancakes under clean towel until ready to serve.

24 comments:

Barbara Bakes said...

What a gorgeous stack of pancakes. The caramelized banana sounds like a perfect addition!

Indian Khana said...

So yum ...looks fab

Hari Chandana P said...

Woww.. mouth watering here.. simply inviting.. love the presentation too.. :)
Indian Cuisine

Nielouphar (Neelu) said...

Hi there,

I've been following your blog for couple of years now and would love to do a guest post on mine (I'am doing a series called '31 days of simple recipes'.

If you don't mind could you get in touch with me on nrzr_0315@yahoo.com? (I couldn't find your email id here).

Thanks a mill
Neelu

Roshu said...

very much tempting dear!!!

Manju said...

they look soo light and fluffy and super gorgeous!!

Najma said...

hi there...
im new to ur blog..and i loved it..im new to cooking world...pancake looks lovely...saw the dosa recipe and it has helped me a lot..coz of the water measurements u ve given could u pls help me wid idli recipe too..wid the water measurements...it will b so greatful..keep up da gdjob...

Unknown said...

Delicious looking pancakes....tempted to the core

Raks said...

Delicious pancakes!

Priya Suresh said...

Love that incredible super fluffy pancakes,soo tempting..

Finla said...

They look super super delicious and beautiful.
I would love to make these once, but hubby don't like american pancakes.

Vineetha Sush said...

Nice clicks..This posts reminds me that I havent made pancake for a lonnng time.

KrithisKitchen said...

So beautifully presented!
Krithi's Kitchen
Event: Serve It - Festival Potluck

Unknown said...

I would save the recipe for this pancake, I usually use the ready-made bisquik one, this will come in handy, thanks.

Mélange said...

Shabs,the pancakes are so beautiful and tempting.With your amazing clicks,My God,it's more than fluffy and fabulous ! Real divine !

Gayathri Ramdas Sreekanth said...

Though I am not a regular commentator out here, I surely read all of ur posts and truly missed your recipes and ur wonderful pics..Congrats on the 200th post and this recipe is definitely bookmarked ! Do you think this recipe would work with the addition of choc chips as well??

Plateful said...

Hey Shabs, good to see you back in your element! Your pics of the houseboat and the scenic beauty of the backwaters brought back my memories of the same. Whenever we visit home we make it a point to visit Kumarakom or take a trip in the kettuvellam -- nothing beats the beauty of that. Glad you had a good time and so good to have you back!

Drizzled with a bit of maple syrup, few slices of strawberries and a bit of ice cream, ah... love pancakes, especially if they look so good.

ambily robin said...

hi shabs
i am a grt fan of yr recipes...thanks for those wonderful recipes....can yu give cup measurements for pancake
thanks ambily

San said...

Fluffy and super moist pancakes shabs. I like to have it with strawberries and whip cream on it. That takes me to a different world.

Nitha said...

Lovely stack...

Nimi SunilKumar said...

Yumm da..super pancakes...my mouth is already watering..pinne eppozhatheyum pole super o super clickin..luv u dee

Soma said...

This is absolutely gorgeous! how I would love a stack of these on a slow relaxed weekend brunch with family. Lovely photographs too.

Anonymous said...

hi shabs, i love the way u present ur recipes... i have sent u a request in ur facebook fan page, can u please go through it nd lemme know ur reply there or @ rishadencyk@gmail.com??? thanks in advance :) :) :)

zareena.b said...

Nicely stacked pancakes. Drooling by your pics. Bookmarked this.

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