Pancake Day: Flippin Marvellous

The day of the year that is second to Christmas is nearly here… tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday, which obviously means PANCAKES! To celebrate this glorious occasion, The Tab brings you a host of recipes to try out on your housemates and friends (if you’re feeling generous!) Some nice, some just plain weird, get flipping ’cause you’re in for a treat.

Selly Sausage is getting well into the pancake hype too

First off, we thought we would provide you with the basic recipe for traditional crepe style pancakes.

Ingredients:

100g plain flour

300ml Milk

Pinch of salt

2 Eggs

1 tbsp Vegetable oil

Knob of butter (for the pan)

HOW TO:

1)Put the flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle.

2)Crack the egg into it and gradually pour in the milk and oil, mixing from the centre as you go to make a smooth batter.

You may have heard some nonsense about having to chill the batter before use, but that is rubbish. We can assure you it is perfectly fine to just launch straight into the flippin’.

And 10 mins later…Batter!

If you fancy being alternative or are just plain weird and don’t want the delicious goodness of peanut butter, banana and Nutella in your belly, here are a couple of alternative recipes:

SAVOURY SPINACH AND CHEESE PANCAKES

Batter mix (as before)

Spinach

Lots of grated cheese

HOW TO:

1) Make the mix as above and ladle a portion into a hot, buttered pan.

Somehow not as appetising as the sweet version

2) Keep on a high heat, then flip the pancake when cooked on one side and repeat. (TopTabTip:  If you’re not a pro- don’t flip your pancake, it will only end up  on the floor or the celling.)

3) Put a couple of generous handfuls of raw spinach onto one side of the pancake and go crazy with the cheese.

Going in for the flip

4) Fold over the pancake, but be careful not to let all the cheese escape (trickier than it sounds, this can be messy…) and tuck in to that cheesy goodness…  Its got spinach in- you can even convince yourself it’s healthy!

Tucking in, too eager to even sit down

Variations:

PESTO

Try adding pesto before spinach- NOM.

THE OLD CLASSIC

Make a pancake. Sprinkle with shitloads of sugar. Squeeze with lemon and EAT.

Plain n Simple (if a bit anemic looking)

AMERICAN PANCAKES

Tasty, thick, spongy orbs of American goodness.

The batter mix for these is slightly different, but the technique of making is still the same.

200g plain flour

1 tsp Baking powder

300ml milk

1 Egg

1 tbsp Granulated sugar

Knob of butter (for the pan)

BANANA AND CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES

1 Mashed banana

Chocolate chips (the more the better)

Reaching for the chocolate a bit early

There are two ways to do this. Either you can mix the banana and choc chips through the batter before you ladle into the pan- although I was a bit worried about how this would go down. I went for the second technique which involved ladling the mix into the pan then spooning banana onto the top of the pancake before the batter had cooked, and then pressing choc chips into it too.

TOPTIP: Worked well to wait a few mins for the pancake to pretty much cook on one side, then to spoon a little of the mix on top before flipping. This prevented the choc from melting and the banana exploding in the pan.  (WARNING: this ones messy)

Directions: Ladle the mix into the pan, if you want to add toppings then add these, wait until bubbles begin to form, spoon a little of the mix onto the toppings to seal your chosen toppings in and flip; cooking until the pancake stops goes golden brown.

Eat fast before someone steals your creation!

VARIATIONS:

Plain and simple: good swig of maple syrup is nice if you can afford the luxury; maybe even a couple of rashers of bacon if you are going for the authentic US style.

Some may say boring, I say classic

LASTLY- THE SHOCKER

Balsamic vinegar pancakes

If you want to decimate your pancake and shock rather than impress, try adding balsamic vinegar into the batter mix, for a twist on a usually delicious recipe.  Other suggestions include soy sauce, or maybe even a splash of aldi’s cheapest vino.

Eat pancakes, be happy and merry. And if all else fails, I heard a rumour Tesco is selling Betty Crocker ready mix for a pound-so even the laziest amongst you can still tuck in!