Next week brings Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the church season leading up to Easter. If you grew upas Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic or Episcopal, the day before Lent begins is Shrove Tuesday. For the rest of the world, it’s Mardi Gras.
Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras, we’ll be celebrating it this year on March 8.
Shrove Tuesday equals pancakes. Tradition holds that households must use up their butter, sugar and eggs before beginning the more austere meals of Lent. You could create a dessert buffet, but for decades pancakes have served as a more sensible way to provide dinner.
Many churches will be holding pancake suppers and many boxes of Aunt Jemima pancake and waffle mix will be consumed. I've heard they indulge in pancake races in Great Britain, but I’ve never witnessed such an event.
Serving pancakes for Shrove Tuesday is a reminder that it’s a shame these little batter cakes are generally relegated to breakfast. Pancakes are so versatile. You can flavor the pancakes themselves or serve them with toppings in any combination imaginable.
Researching this story made me look for the menu of a restaurant, The Pancake Bakery, I once visited in Amsterdam. Dutch pancakes are pannenkoeken, and The Pancake Bakery is a pannenkoekenhuis.
That makes it, of course, the Dutch version of America’s Original Pancake House, where the Dutch Baby is a signature item.
The menu from The Pancake Bakery offers dozens of variations on the pancake theme. Want a sweet pannenkoeken? How about the “Brazilian” with walnuts, mocha-caramel sauce, Amaretto, pineapple liqueur and whipped cream? Savory? The “Greek” comes with gyro meat, tzatziki sauce and feta/olive salad. That might be carrying the idea a little too far, but you get the picture.
A pancake at its simplest is a thin batter, baked on a griddle or in a skillet. Pancakes apparently have been around forever. The “Oxford Companion to Food” (Oxford University Press, $65) says, “The griddle method of cooking is older than oven baking, and pancakes are an ancient form.”
There’s a pancake tradition on every continent and in every cuisine. In India, a dosa may be served with butter and honey, or filled with spicy potatoes and served with chutney. Korean pancakes are filled with chopped kimchi. The Ethiopian bread, injera, used to pick up bites of stews and salads is a sourdough pancake. Russians make blini and blintzes and the French make crepes.
With pancakes, anything goes.
Topper:
Welcome to our version of the International House of Pancakes. There’s nothing wrong with a stack of flapjacks and a pitcher of Vermont maple syrup, with a side rasher of bacon or ham, but maybe this is the year to branch out a little.
Dosas (Indian Rice Pancakes)
Hands on: 30 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes, plus 30 hours for soaking
Serves: 4
These pancakes are so interesting. They're just raw rice and urad dal, a lentil that has a black skin which is removed in its processing. My testers thought the dosa reminded them of old-fashioned johnny cakes made with only cornmeal and water. With all the soaking time required, you must plan ahead, but the batter is forgiving and will keep in your refrigerator for a few days before cooking. The dosa take a little longer than traditional American pancakes to cook, so making them on a griddle allows you to provide several at a time, and tend to other tasks while they’re cooking. I made the accompanying potatoes and yogurt chutney in the time it took to finish the stack of dosa. No griddle? You can make these individually in six-inch frying pans. It will just take longer. Those two-foot-wide dosas you find in restaurants require a huge griddle not generally found among the equipment for home cooks.
2 cups long-grain rice
1/2 cup skinned urad dal
2 cups water, more if needed
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
In a medium bowl, combine rice and urad dal. Wash in several changes of water, then cover with water by two inches. Leave to soak for six hours. Drain.
In the jar of a blender, process the rice and dal with 2 cups water. Scrape sides of container to be sure all ingredients are well blended. Add more water if needed for blending. Return mixture to bowl, add salt and cover bowl with an overturned plate. Leave bowl on counter for 24 hours.
When ready to cook dosa, thin the dough with more water if needed to make it flow like crepe batter.
Heat a griddle to very hot. Generously brush skillet with vegetable oil. Stir batter and pour 1/3 cup onto griddle. The batter will spread and the edges will sizzle and bubble. If the batter doesn’t spread to a five-inch-wide pancake, thin the batter with more water. Repeat to make as many dosa as your griddle will hold. Let dosa cook until tops are no longer shiny, about two minutes. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil, then turn and let cook until brown on the second side, about two minutes more. Remove from griddle, keep warm while cooking the remainder of the batter. Fill with 1/2 cup spicy potatoes and serve with yogurt chutney.
Per serving: 464 calories (percent of calories from fat, 28), 7 grams protein, 25 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 14 grams fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 541 milligrams sodium.
Spicy Potatoes
Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Makes: 8 cups
Just 2 chiles mean this really isn’t a spicy recipe at all. Adjust the amount of chiles to suit your household’s taste.
10 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 3 pounds)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 hot green chiles, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
In a large saucepan, bring potatoes to a boil in salted water to cover. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat a wok or large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add oil and mustard seeds. As soon as seeds begin to pop, add ginger, cumin and chiles. Stir for a few seconds until ginger is lightly brown. Add coriander, cayenne and turmeric. Stir again and add potatoes. Stir and fry for one minute. Add water, lower heat and mix gently. Stir in lemon juice and salt. Cook for a minute. It can be prepared ahead and left at room temperature up to two hours.
Per 1/2-cup serving: 134 calories (percent of calories from fat, 47), 2 grams protein, 16 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 7 grams fat (1 gram saturated), no cholesterol, 139 milligrams sodium.
Yogurt Chutney
Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes
Makes 2 cups (serving is 1/4 cup)
2 cups plain nonfat or lowfat yogurt
3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, onion, mint, cilantro, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well. It can be made ahead and kept refrigerated up to two days.
Adapted from “A Taste of India” by Madhur Jaffrey (Athenum, out of print).
Per 1/4-cup serving: 41 calories (percent of calories from fat, 20), 3 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 1 gram fat (1 gram saturated), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 244 milligrams sodium.
Pannekoeken (Dutch puffed pancake)
Hands on: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
This puffy pancake is part popover, part souffle. It rises high in the oven and deflates quickly when removed. It’s at its best served immediately. If you have smaller ovenproof skillets, you can turn this recipe into individual servings. I’ve always made my pannekoeken in a cast iron skillet because it holds the heat so beautifully.
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
3/4 cup 2 percent milk
3 small apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Stroop (see recipe)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put butter in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet and place in oven.
In a small bowl, combine flour, eggs and milk. Whisk together until mixture is smooth. When butter has melted, carefully pour in batter and return skillet to oven. Bake 20 minutes or until pancake puffs and is golden brown.
While pancake is baking, in a small saucepan, combine apples and sugar and cook over medium heat until apples are soft.
When pancake is baked, remove from oven, top with cooked apples and serve immediately. Pancake will fall quickly. Serve with stroop.
Per serving: 402 calories (percent of calories from fat, 36), 8 grams protein, 58 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 16 grams fat (9 grams saturated), 175 milligrams cholesterol, 67 milligrams sodium.
Stroop (Dutch Cinnamon Syrup)
Hands on: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Makes 1 cup (serving size 1 tablespoon)
Do not boil this syrup or you’ll end up with candy. Just warm it enough to melt the brown sugar. Extra syrup will keep for weeks in the refrigerator. Warm again when ready to use.
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspooon ground cinnamon
In a small saucepan, combine corn syrup and brown sugar. Cook over low heat just until brown sugar is melted. Remove from heat and stir in butter and cinnamon. Serve warm. This will thicken as it cools, so should be served warm so it will spread easily.
Per 1-tablespoon serving: 45 calories (percent of calories from fat, 21), trace protein, 12 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber,1 gram fat (1 gram saturated), 4 milligrams cholesterol, 14 milligrams sodium.
Palacsinta (Hungarian Crepes)
Hands on: 25 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Serves: 4
These crepes are just about foolproof. With only three ingredients, they go together quickly and don’t require the resting time of the traditional French version. They also cook quickly and the edges lift up from the pan giving you an easy grip for flipping to finish cooking the second side. If you have all the other ingredients ready, you can spread and stack as each crepe is made, then pop the finished stack into the oven for the final browning. The combination of chocolate and apricot is traditional, but you may vary it with another flavor of preserves, or leaving out the cocoa altogether. You sometimes see this recipe presented with a chocolate sauce instead of using cocoa sugar. Easy to adapt to suit your taste.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups club soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped raisins
1 tablespoon cocoa
5 teaspoons granulated sugar, divided
1 cup apricot preserves, divided
2 egg whites
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter a nine-inch pie pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and club soda. When thoroughly combined, add eggs and whisk until smooth.
Heat a six-inch skillet over medium heat. Lightly spray with nonstick spray and add 1/4 cup batter. Swirl skillet so batter coats the bottom. Cook until crepe begins to lift at the edges, about 30 seconds, and turn. Cook 20 seconds more and remove to a plate. Continue until all batter is used. This should make 12 crepes.
While crepes are cooking, in a small bowl, mix together walnuts and raisins. In another small bowl, combine cocoa and 4 teaspoons sugar.
Spread first crepe with 1 tablespoon preserves and put in prepared pie pan. Spread next crepe with 1 tablespoon preserves and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon cocoa mixture. Layer on third crepe and sprinkle with walnut/raisin mixture. Continue stacking in this fashion until all crepes are used.
In a small bowl, beat together egg whites, 1 teaspoon apricot preserves and remaining teaspoon sugar until fluffy. Pour the egg white mixture over stack of crepes. Bake until egg white mixture just begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Adapted from a recipe in “The Jewish Holiday Kitchen” by Joan Nathan (Schoken, $19.95).
Per serving: 551 calories (percent of calories from fat, 19), 14 grams protein, 103 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 12 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 94 milligrams cholesterol, 108 milligrams sodium.
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