The holidays have come and gone and now we’re entirely immersed in the new year of 2012. Disbelief is the word that comes to mind when I think of all that happened in 2011. I am half compelled to forget it all yet I believe that all that was accomplished and experienced last year was all for the better development of myself. After spending a few restorative weeks in Vancouver over the holidays, the thing I miss the most is my sister’s pancakes. (I miss her too of course).
It was wonderful waking up in the morning and lazily watching the Food Network when the ever familiar pang of hunger hits as you watch Jamie Oliver whip up some delicious looking nosh and Guy slurps and chomps through juicy eats. That’s when the cry of “Unnniiiieeee!!! What do you want for breakfast!” is heard through the house and my sister sleepily walks into the room and says, “umm… want pancakes?” My eyes widen (as much as Asian eyes can) and sparkle with delight as we race downstairs into the kitchen to whip some of her delicious fluffy pancakes. As she’s making them she always reminisces about how she made these for her friends in England and Germany as it was a novelty for her friends to have an “American breakfast”. It seems as though she makes the batter on auto pilot and the movements are so easy with just a few ingredients and voila. There you have it. The perfect breakfast.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of All Purpose Flour (or whole wheat)
- 1 tsp. of Baking Powder
- 1 tsp. of Baking Soda
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 Tbsp. of Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup of Butter, melted
- 2 Eggs
- 2 cups of Milk, 2%
- 3 Tbsp. of Olive Oil (or more as needed)
- Pure Canadian Maple Syrup
Optional: Cinnamon, Aged Cheddar Cheese, Cinnamon, Yogurt, Green onion, jalapeno, feta cheese, cilantro, black pepper (I’ll explain later)
1. Start off with your flour in a medium sized bowl
2. Add your Baking Soda, Baking Powder, pinch of salt, and brown sugar. Mix well.
3. Put the butter into a microwave safe measuring cup and melt in the microwave.
4. Crack 2 eggs into measuring cup with butter and whisk lightly. Add to the flour mixture.
5. Add milk and whisk. At this point, if the batter is too runny, add more flour. If it’s too thick, add more milk.
6. Heat up a non-stick pan with some olive oil. Check to make sure it’s hot enough and then add some batter. The reason we use olive oil is because the crust on the pancake ends up being a wee bit savoury and helps resist the maple syrup. If you use butter, it soaks into the pancake too much and makes it soggy when you add the syrup.
7. The key to this is patience. Wait until the bubbles form on the surface and you can tell that there is a good crust that’s formed on the pan. Wait for it…… and NOW QUICK! FLIP IT! Let it chill out on the other side for a while. I like to poke it. If it springs back to the touch then it’s done!
8. Plate it up and add your toppings! (My sister likes to do this and I cringed at first but it’s REALLY good this way.) Add some slices of really old white cheddar cheese a few dashes of cinnamon and add a healthy drizzle of maple syrup.
Variation: If you like savoury pancakes… add some green onion, jalapeno, cilantro and feta cheese to the mixture and eat it with yogurt instead!
OR you can put some sharp cheddar and maple syrup on it too to have a sweet/savoury combination.
Yay for sisters! Thanks for making breakfast, Kajin.
Mmmmm……
