On the Table - Roland's Weekend Pancakes

May 20, 2018

On the Table - Roland's Weekend Pancakes

Family traditions are what make life full. Getting together for Christmas to enjoy family favourites and playing dominoes after lunch. Eating a home-cooked meal on Sunday after church and napping on the sofa in front of the TV. In our house, it’s weekend breakfast and no, it’s not eggs and bacon: it’s Roland’s pancakes. For as long as I remember he’s been making these. It’s a special treat for us and we like to have it the traditional South African way: with a bit of sugar and cinnamon. As a young girl I remember making pancakes with my mom, grandmother and aunt. There’s this one day that has stuck with me all my life. Making pancakes at my grandmother’s, we accidently mixed salt and cinnamon instead of sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle over the pancakes. It was inedible, but we had a good old laugh. Family traditions are platforms to making memories and stories our children will tell their grandchildren.

These pancakes have been through a metamorphosis through the years but the recent one is by far the most decadent. I asked Roland to do the unthinkable and write down the recipe to share with you. While I was laying in on the weekend, he got up and went to work. The house had this wonderful 'home' smell and we got pancakes in bed. What a treat.

Breakfast served in bed.

This is Roland’s Weekend Pancakes:

Now, DH is a pancake guru, so I thought I’d give the recipe a try and see if I can make them as tasty as he can. First, I mixed all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl: flour; brown sugar; salt; cinnamon; baking powder. Then, I mixed the milk; egg; coconut oil and drinking yogurt (I used Laban for those ladies in the UAE) until it was nice and frothy. Coconut oil is key to the taste of this pancake. It's very aromatic and adds to the richness. If you don't have coconut oil, you could use vegetable oil. Don’t mix the olive oil and butter into the mixture. You mix those together for frying. When the egg mixture is ready, you slowly mix in the dry ingredients. It’s best to keep mixing as you add.

Coat a non-stick frying pan with a tiny amount of oil, like a few drops. The pancake mixture has oil in it so it fries lovely. Spoon a ladle of pancake mixture in and swoosh the pan around to form a thin layer of dough. Fry until the edges are cooked and the pancake is easy to flip. Flip and cook on the other side. As soon as they come out of the pan, sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and roll. If you don’t have a non-stick pan, try this neat little trick. Heat up your pan then pour a good amount of oil into it to cover bottom of the pan. Heat the oil and swoosh it around to coat the pan. Be careful as the oil is hot and it will probably smoke a little. When the oil is warmed up, drain the oil. Your pan is now 'non-stick'. The first pancake might be a bit oily, but your pancakes will not stick.

There’s nothing better than some bananas with cinnamon, so I fried a few slices in a pan until brown. I served it with fresh raspberries and blueberries, sprinkled with a little more cinnamon and sugar. You could also serve it with whipped cream or ice cream. The bananas were delicious and you could really taste the coconut.