Banana Pancake

Follow me on Twitter. Add me as a friend on Facebook . Visit my Flickr photostream.

“In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along. ” – Antonin Scalia

Continuing the series on Breakfast with Egg Recipes, we’ll talk about Pancake today, Banana Pancake to be precise. [Part 1 was Mughlai Paratha, Part 2 was French Toast and Part 3 was Scrambled Eggs].

What we call pancakes today might have originated more than two millennia ago. It wasn’t like the ones served at our dining table, but was a concoction (mixture) of milk, flour, eggs, and spices, and was called “Alita Dolcia” (Latin for “another sweet”) by the ancient Romans. They were probably prepared on flat rocks smeared with grease. The modern day pancakes were invented in Medieval Europe.

Pancake is also called: hotcakes, griddlecakes, or flapjacks in US and Canada; pannekoek in Afrikaans community; Apom Balik in Malay; Ban Chian Kuih in Chinese; chatamaari in Nepal; Blini in Russia.

There are numerous variations of Pancake prepared in different cuisines, based on changes in ingredients (flour, eggs and milk remain constant, rest vary) the cooking implements (flat rocks, hearths, griddles, microwave oven), the look and taste of the final product (thick or thin, spicy or sweet).

In India too, there are several variations of pancake – pitha (or pithy) in Bengal and Assam, Dosa in South, Meetha Pooda in Punjab.  We’ll prepare yet another variation, Banana Pancake, today. Get ready for a sweet sensation to the taste buds.

Preparation time:  5 mins

Cooking time: 8 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• Flour (Maida): ½ cup
• Banana (Kala): 1, mashed properly
• Egg (Dim): 1
• Milk (Dudh): ½ cup
• Baking powder: ½ teaspoon
• Sugar (Chini): 1 tablespoon
• Butter/ Clarified butter (Makhan/ Ghee): 1 teaspoon
• Cherry: 6 /7, chopped coarsely
• Cinnamon powder (Dar chini guro): ¼ teaspoon (optional)
• Vegetable oil (Sada tel): 6 teaspoon
• Salt: ½ teaspoon

Preparation:

• Take a large bowl, sift the flour in it, put in the other dry ingredients and mix
• Add the mashed banana , milk, butter and chopped cherries, and whisk to make a smooth batter
• Heat one and half teaspoon on oil on a pan and pour in one-fourth of the batter
• Fry one side of the pan cake till it becomes golden brown, turn the other side and fry similarly
• Fry three more pan cakes with the batter

Hot Tips: Banana pan cakes taste great with freshly sliced banana and honey or maple syrup. Along with mashed bananas, other soft fruits like mango, strawberries, blue berries can also be added to the batter. Fruitless pan cakes can also be made; it depends on what you want to put in.

Further Reading – Mango Nutella Pancake, Easy Pancake, Besan ka puda, Banana Pancake Trail

Nutrtion Count – 2 Banana Pancakes

Calories 240

Total fat 7 gms

Total Carbohydarte 41gms

Cholesterol 20mg

Dietary fibre 2gms

Sugar 9gms

Protein 5gm

Vitamin A 2% Vitamin C 8%

Calcium 8%

Iron 15%

Sending this to NTTC#5 event hosted by Sneh of Gel’s Kitchen and also to the event Heart of the Matter hosted by Michelle, this month’s theme being “Budget-Friendly Foods.” .

If you like this post, please consider linking to it or sharing it with others. I’ll love to hear your comments too. You can also Subscribe to BengaliCuisine by Email, or Subscribe in a reader