All Day Pancake

 Minimalist or fully loaded, from scratch or ready mix, Pancake is indubitably one of my nostalgic indugences. Its persistent aroma has made fun kitchen memories. Though every member of my family favours a different recipe- our collective commitment to pancake remains sacred and binding.

Defined as thin, flat, round cake-prepared from wet batter and cooked on a hot surface. It is one of the oldest forms and widespread prepared breads eaten by humans. Pancakes vary in thickness from thin French crepes to thick American breakfast pancake (also called hotcake, griddlecake and flapjack). Other countries have specialty pancakes such as Russian blinis, Italian crespelle served with savory filling, Guatemalan paqueque topped with fruits and honey, INdian pooda or cheela, Malaysian apam balik filled with corn and condensed milk, South African pannekoek served with cinnamon-flavored sugar and lemon juice and our own version- the Pinoy hotcake eaten with generous margarine and sugar. Traditionally, pancakes were made and eaten before lent, on Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday in most European countries, which is also known as Pancake Day particularly in Ireland and United Kingdom.

My family's fidelity to these marvelous flat cakes is not confined to breakfast. In our home, we make and eat them any time of the day !

Classic Oatmeal Pancake with Apple Cinnamon

3/4 cup Quick cooking oats
1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tspn Baking Soda
1/2 tspn Sugar
1 Egg
1 cup Buttermilk
3 tbsp Butter, melted
as needed Prepared Maple Syrup

Apple Cinnamon
1 pc Green Apple, sliced
2 tblsp Butter
1 tblsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon (ground)
1/2 tsp Nutmeg (ground)

Procedure :
 In a bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda and sugar. Whisk egg, buttermilk and butter in separate bowl, combine with dry ingredients just until blended (still lumpy). Pour batter onto a greased hot griddle or non stick pan. Turn when bubbles form on top, cook until other side is golden brown. Repeat to the rest of the batter.
In a pan, saute apple in butter add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook until apple are soft. Arrange pancakes and top wit Apple Cinnamon mixture and maple syrup.

Pancake with Smoked Bangus Spread

1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp White Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 cup Buttermilk
1/4 cup Milk
1 Large Egg
2 tblsp Butter
additional butter for frying

Spread:
100g Smoked Bangus, flaked
1 bar Cream Cheese
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup All Purpose Cream
1 tblspn Fresh Dill

Procedure:

Prepare batter by combing dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients. Gently mix dry and wet ingredients until just blended but still lumpy.

Pour a medium ladle of batter on greased griddle or non stick pan (about 3-4 inches diameter) Cook until brown on bottom and bubbles form on top, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side.

For the smoked bangus spread, combine all ingredients in a food processor or manually mix in a bowl.

To assemble, place 1 pancake on plate spread thinly with smoked bangus mixture on top and place another layer of pancake repeating with rest (making 3 layers of pancakes). Cover layered pancakes with spread (similar to putting icing on cake). Garnish with dill on top.

Food Notes :


1. No buttermilk? in a 250 ml measuring cup, add 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Fill up cup with whole milk. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. Do not everbeat the batter- it's ok if there are lumps.
3. Save yourself the arm workout in separating and whipping the whites into peaks, because it doesn't make any noticeable difference in pancake flufiness.
4. Recipe published in Cook Magazine, March 2012