Nasi Goreng for kids

Nasi Goreng is a spicy Indonesian Fried rice dish based on peanuts.  You can do as much of the 'faffing' in this recipe as you like but the basic idea is a paste, rice, some protein and some vegetables.  I've made this to be reasonably mildly spiced so kid friendly but up the chilli if just cooking for adults (if you like, it's still blooming tasty as it is!)

As spring is in the air, I even got outside for my lunch!

Nasi Goreng - Serves 1 hungry adult or 1 adult and 1 toddler

Ingredients

For the spice paste (you will only need half for this, store the rest in the fridge for a couple of days or the freezer)
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
30g, 1 oz onion
1 tbsp ginger
1 dried chilli - use a mild one if liked (or a spicier one if the family are keen)
Juice of one lime

60g, 2oz Basmati rice
Large handful of frozen peas or French beans
1 Clove garlic
2 tsp Soy sauce

Remainder of onion (not used for the paste)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
Coriander (cilantro) to serve

Cooked mackerel or prawns*

Method

Blend the spice paste ingredients in a food processor until blended.

Boil the rice for 10 minutes adding the peas or beans in for the last 3 minutes (if frozen, if fresh, add them for the last 4 minutes).

In the meantime, cut the onion left from making the spice paste into thin slices.  Fry in the oil in a wok or frying pan until browned and drain on kitchen paper.

Empty most of the oil out of the wok, reserving some and put back on the heat.  Whisk up the egg with a little water and fry to make a very thin omelette.  Once cooked, put to one side.

When the rice is cooked, drain.  Put a tsp of the oil back into the wok and fry the paste for a minute with the garlic (remember you're only using half of the paste).  Add the rice / vegetable mix and 2 tsp soy sauce.  Cook it all together for a minute and serve topped with the mackerel or prawns, slices of omelette, onions and coriander (cilantro).

* To cook mackerel fillets, just place on a baking tray and cook in an oven for approx 15 minutes or alternatively fresh or leftover barbecued fish would be awesome with this.

Make it Thrifty

Look out for value or smart price packs of Basmati rice.  Although you often get more broken grains, the flavour is still just as good.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Fruit Crumble Bars

I'd looked online for a fruit crumble bar recipe which I thought wasn't a load of faff.  I failed to find one so this is what I came up with.  It's simple and you could switch in whatever fruit you have in the fruit bowl looking past it's best.

Although plums aren't seasonal in the UK at least, they are in South Africa and the UK are a major export market.  Irrespective of what you think of imported fruit and vegetables, these plums were lovely.  Juicy, delicious and sweet but unfortunately my son on a whim has decided he doesn't like plums or maybe he's aware it's not UK plum season.  Who knows?  Stranger things have happened than my son deciding to put his foot down on carbon footprints.  Well he is 3.

If you are sticking to more locally sourced fruit, why not try using frozen fruit instead?  Raspberries might work well but will probably need boiling down more so they're not too wet.

Fruit Crumble Bars - makes 9 generous sized bars

Ingredients

100g, 3.5oz Plain (all purpose) flour

100g, 3.5oz Porridge oats

100g, 3.5oz Sugar

100g, 3.5oz Butter

1 egg

2-3 Ripe large plums

1 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch)

Method

Stone the plums and cut into small pieces (don't skin them).  Heat in a pan with a tbsp of water until the juices start to run, a few minutes or so.  Check they're not too sour (add sugar if wanted but remember the crumble is sweet.  I didn't add any sugar.)  Mix the cornflour with a tbsp water and mix into the hot plums to thicken the juice.  Take off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F, Gas Mark 6.

In a food processor or bowl rub the flour, oats, sugar and butter together.  Add the egg to bring together.

Line a  20cm by 20 cm (8 inch by 8 inch) baking dish with baking paper.

Press two thirds of the mix into the base.

Top the base with the plum mix then loosely crumble the remaining mix on top.

Bake for approx 18-20 minutes or until hot through and browned on top.

Cut into bars and serve warm (not hot) or cold.  When cold store in an airtight tin.  Best eaten the same day or the next.

Make it Thrifty

Use anything which is needing eating up in your fruit bowl, especially stone fruit or berries.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Spicy Chicken Goujons

After making my crunchy mackerel strips, it occurred to me the same treatment might work pretty well with chicken and, lo and behold, it does!  The sweet chilli sauce lends flavour and a lovely sticky base for the coating.

I've suggested serving with some gingery noodles but this would be just as much at home with salad or as a beer time snack.

I've not tried my son with this yet but I think he'll be a fan.

Spicy Chicken Goujons - Serves 2

Ingredients

250g, 9oz Chicken breast

4 tbsp Sweet chilli sauce

30g, 1oz Rice Krispies

30g, 1oz Plain, All purpose flour

Spray oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.  Prepare a baking tray with a layer of non stick baking paper.

Crush the rice krispies and mix with the flour.

Cut the chicken into strips.  Dunk each strip into the sweet chilli sauce and then into the crushed cereal mix and put on the tray.

Spray with spray oil.  Roast for approx 20 minutes or until cooked through and crunchy.

Serve with your choice of accompaniment.  I've chosen some honey and ginger noodles with vegetables.

Make it Thrifty

Take a look at chicken breasts in the freezer department.  Often they're cheaper than chilled chicken breasts and as long as you remember to defrost them in the fridge overnight, you're less likely to have food waste by buying them frozen as they last for ages.

I would be absolutely honoured if you would consider nominating me in the Britmums BIB awards, especially the food category.

Fruit Cobbler

Cobbler.  It's such a long time since I've eaten one and I'd forgotten how lovely they can be.  Essentially it's stewed fruit topped with a scone like topping.  On a whim I decided to make this while making my Spanish style sausage and beans.  This fantastically tasty pudding then happily cooked away using heat in the oven and then was left cooling slightly while we ate our first course.

This was also devised as a way to use up some past their best apples and some frozen raspberries which had been kicking around the freezer for a while.  Not massively high in sugar either.  Probably around 60g, 2 ounces of added sugar in the whole dish and a fantastically warm cuddle of a pudding when spring has more than a hint of wintery bite about it.  This is great Sunday lunch fodder.

Fruit Cobbler - Just about stretched to 2 adults and 1 toddler (with custard)

Ingredients

110g, 4oz Eating apples (peeled weight)
200g, 7oz Frozen raspberries
110g, 4oz Self Raising flour (or all purpose flour and 1 tsp baking powder)
1 tsp Baking Powder
30g, 1oz Butter or margarine
30g, 1oz Sugar (granulated or caster) plus 1 tsp
60ml, 2fl oz Milk
Squeeze lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Method

Stew the apples with 1 tbsp water and the raspberries.  Stew for a few minutes and pour into a smallish heatproof dish.  If you want to at this stage you can refrigerate until you're ready to cook.

When ready, preheat the oven to 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4.

Using a food processor or by hand, rub the flour, baking powder and sugar (except the 1 tsp).  Then mix the milk, lemon juice and vanilla together (don't worry if it causes the milk to go funny).  Mix this into the flour mix.  It should be a softish consistency, if it's not, add a bit more milk.

Spoon on the mix on top of the fruit in blobs with a bit of space for expansion and sprinkle on the sugar.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until risen, browned and cooked through.  It was so good.

I think it is a bit better allowed to cool a bit before serving with some hot custard.  My 3 year old son had seconds meaning there wasn't really enough for Mummy to have a decent sized portion but then that is the joy of a good cobbler!

Make it Thrifty

This is a great way to use up this slightly wizened apples from the fruit bowl.  Just use what you have.  Plums, pears, peaches even (but not Bananas; that would be odd).  I really like the idea of a plum cobbler.

 

An introduction to Mamacook

Hi All!  I'm on the scrounge again.  The Britmum's nomination process has started again meaning I'd really, really, like your help in trying to be nominated in the food category.

I know for non bloggers (and even some bloggers) the blogging awards thing seems like a waste of time.  It is really, you get nothing if you win apart from the honour of a little statuette and the ability to say you won.  That's it!  It seems kind of pointless apart from the fact it's not.  I put hours into my blog.  Blooming hours!  I don't make any money from it, I keep wondering if I should try but nowadays blogging is no sure way to make sufficient money for a career and anyway, I really enjoy my day job.

For those of you who don't know, I have a PhD and work in food safety so why I do Mamacook is to have a bit of a creative outlet in my life.  I keep going mainly because I keep having ideas!

Anyway, enough about me and onto why I think you should please nominate me!  If you don't ask, you don't get (and I did say please!)

I thought I'd do a bit of a tour around Mamacook and introduce you to some of the recipes I've posted in the last year, some of the photography I'm proud of and why I wrote each recipe.  I little insight into my mind.

My sugar free raspberry mousse was a return to the sugar free, baby friendly recipes I started with on my blog.

As I often write, the ingredients are 'no junk'.  I'm often shocked that nurseries serve artificially sweetened mousses for kids, there is no need to give kids artificial sweeteners, I'd rather give my son sugar but in the same way, if you can make a recipe from all natural ingredients, naturally sweetened with fruit juice, why not avoid both?  I also love the colour on my photo!

I went through a real period of experimenting with frittatas this year.  I don't really know why I didn't do it earlier.  It's a great way to include hidden vegetables in your child's diet and a great finger food.  This goats cheese frittata is my favourite but my son really likes the broccoli and bacon one.

My dairy free bran loaf is a recipe I have adapted from one my mum used to make.  The reason I'm proud of this is twofold.  It was one of the first recipes I changed and developed and my adaptations make it dairy free and lower in sugar.  Sure it's still a cake but it's probably one of the healthiest cakes you could make.

I've been trying to find ways to increase my own and my son's intake of oily fish.  I love mackerel freshly caught and barbecued but I'm in a landlocked county and my chances of finding a still wriggling mackerel are zero.  Frozen mackerel fillets aren't bad though but the strong taste can be a difficult sell to adults and kids alike.  I've written two recipes though I'm really proud of, one is the healthy fish and chips where the mackerel is made into mustard spiked goujons but the other is my spicy mackerel, which, if you excuse the chip in the plate (how embarrassing I didn't notice that), is one of my favourite food photos I've ever taken.  I don't think it's the best one but it has some awesome bokeh in the background (fancy pants photographer word for those aesthetic out of focus lights in the background) and it's taken in artificial light.  It is soooo hard to photograph food in artificial light.  Also take a look at my tuna meatballs as they're a great source of Omega 3 too.

I've always been one for making an adult recipe child friendly.  Even I was surprised though at how well my prawn laksa went down with my son.  My philosophy is you don't need to avoid spice and strong flavours with kids, perhaps tone down the chilli a bit but no need to avoid it completely.

For those of you who read me regularly you will also know I'm a fan of not wasting food.  This chicken and mushroom pie was a way to use up leftovers and I also love the photo.  It's the leaves on top of the pie!  I'm going to make something similar tonight with some leftover roast I froze in stock. One of my leftover pie recipes is even featured on the Love Food Hate Waste website.

Another old family recipe, this one for ginger biscuits, and again, one I'm proud of the photography on.  My son asked me when I picked him up from nursery one day "please can I have a biscuit when we get home?"  We had no biscuits in and, me being me, as I was driving him back, realised I could cook biscuits in less time than it would take for me to walk to the corner shop and buy some.  He'd had a difficult day, had a bit of a cold so I was feeling a bit soft and made him these in about 15 minutes from start to cool enough to eat time.  Awesome parenting!

As I mentioned earlier, with the stories in the media and every household feeling squeezed, including mine, food thrift has been on my mind.  I talked over five days about my response to Jamie Oliver's comments (you can see the posts here, here and here) but after then had more of a focus on thrift.  You will often now find on my recipes that there are ways to make them thriftier, either with changing ingredients or with the cooking method at the end.  My first post I introduced this with was porridge because you can make it in a microwave (incredibly low energy way of cooking) and have toppings and it only costs 15p a portion.

If there is one last recipe I've cooked again and again this year, it's sweetcorn fritters.  Again massively cheap to make but as at home in my work lunchbox with sweet chilli sauce for dunking as on my son's dinner plate with vegetables.

My final post I'd like to highlight is one not about food but about being a good enough parent.  For those of you who know me in 'real' life, you will know I've not always found being a parent easy.  I don't think anyone does and this is a post I wrote about it and about easing up on myself.  Also it's got a photo of me after about 3 hours of broken sleep.  You have been warned.

If you would like to nominate the Britmums Nomination form is here (just click on the words, it should open in a new window) and my blog URL is http://mamacook.blogspot.com my twitter handle is @mamacook_blog and my email address for this or if you want to get in touch is mamacook@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you. x

Apple and Almond Cake

A big hit with my 3 year old and grown ups, this is a cake which is equally at home with custard as pudding and as a cake.

The basic mix is based on a victoria sponge (so not sugar free) but by adding apples into the mix, this pads out the cake meaning you get something which feels special without needing layers of sugary icing or jam so still a treat but perhaps a less guilty one.

This makes one shallow cake, which I think is the best kind to have with custard or cream.

Apple and almond cake - makes one cake

Ingredients

110g, 4oz Margarine (it blends better than butter for cakes and is less greasy)
110g, 4oz Sugar (I used a mixture of white and dark brown soft sugar)
2 Eggs
110g, 4oz Self raising flour (or plain / all purpose flour with 1 tsp baking powder)
1/2 tsp Almond extract
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tbsp Milk
175g, 6oz Dessert apples (peeled and cored weight, approx 2-3 depending on size)
A generous tbsp Flaked almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 180oC.

Peel and core the apples cutting into rough chunks.  Grease and line a loose bottomed shallow cake tin.  Mine is approx 17cm, 7 inches diameter.

Cream the margarine and sugar together using electric beaters and add the almond extract.

Add the eggs and whisk followed by the flour, baking powder and finally the milk.

Mix the apple chunks in carefully and turn into the prepared dish.  Smooth out and sprinkle flaked almonds on top.

Bake for approx 30 minutes or until cooked through push out and cool on a wire rack.  Serve still warm as pudding with custard or cream or cold as a cake.

The apple still has some texture which I quite liked.  I've not tried it, but if you want it to be softer, try using cooking apples or cutting the apples smaller.

My son had an individual game pie with carrots and peas followed by this for pudding.  He eats well for a three year old!

Warning:  Officially whole nuts are not recommended until kids are fairly old because of the choking risk (although the risk with flaked almonds is likely to be much lower).  As I've done I urge you to ensure you are with your child when they are eating this to ensure they don't choke and if you have any doubts, don't feed it to them.

Make it Thrifty

If you don't have almond extract, miss it out or substitute it for vanilla extract.

Healthy Fish and Chips for the Whole Family

Healthy fish and chips.  The mark of a good recipe is when you make it twice before posting it!

We should all eat more omega 3.  One of the best sources of it is oily fish but that can be a tough sell to adults let alone kids.  Mackerel can be fantastic and delicious, especially grilled on a barbecue but can be strong tasting and a lot of people aren't all that keen on the bones.

I introduced a way of cooking mackerel recently for reluctant adults, now I thought I'd look at kids.  Mackerel is such a well flavoured fish, it can stand up to some really strong flavours and it goes fantastically well with mustard.

The best ideas come to me at 5:30am when I'm lying in bed wondering why I'm not still asleep!  One morning, I had a bit of a brainwave; why not use mayonnaise as a way to adhere a coating?  If I used mackerel I could also mix in some mustard... and so an idea was born!

As I was starting to prepare this I had a sudden thought, why not make this a healthy fish, chips and peas dish?  Why not indeed!

Mackerel goujons with home made oven chips and peas - serves 1 adult with a big appetite or 1 adult and 1 toddler

Ingredients

1 Mackerel fillet, defrosted if frozen (fresh not smoked)
2 tbsp Mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
20g, 3/4 oz Rice Krispies or own brand equivalent
20g, 3/4 oz  Plain / all purpose flour
Spray oil

Potatoes
1 medium to large baking potato
1 tbsp olive oil

To serve
Cooked frozen peas
2 tbsp Mayonnaise mixed with 1 tsp dijon mustard (or plain mayo or tartare sauce if you prefer)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC, 400F, Gas Mark 6.

Wash the potato then cut (skin on) into thin sticks (to your preference).  Toss in the olive oil and put on a baking tray.  Lining the tray with non stick baking paper will help prevent them sticking.

Skin the fish if liked.  Cut the fish into strips about the thickness of your ring finger.

Mix 2 tbsp mayo with 1 tsp mustard.  In another bowl, crush the rice krispies and mix with the flour.

Put the 'chips' in the oven as they need about 5 mins longer than the fish (depending on the age of the potato and the thickness).

Now it's time to get messy.  Line a baking tray with non stick paper, then dunk each mackerel strip in the mayo mix then the rice krispies mix then lay on the tray.

Once done, wash your hands as you probably won't be able to see them!  Then spray the mackerel with spray oil and put in the oven for approx 15 minutes or until the chips are cooked and browned and the fish is cooked through.  Give the chips a bit of a jiggle now and again to make sure they're cooking evenly.

Serve with the serving suggestions above.  I had mustard mayo, my 3 year old son had "white ketchup" (i.e. plain mayonnaise) to dunk into.  He tried but said my mustard mayo made his tongue tingle too much but he did love the fish.  It was a real hit!

Make it Thrifty

Look out for frozen mackerel fillets; they're often in the freezer section for less than £1 a fillet which is fantastic value.  Also try using own brand rice krispies and value / smart price mayonnaise, mixed with the mustard, you'd never know the difference.

Spanish Sausage and Beans

I did think about calling this "Spanish Cassoulet" but, well it's not really but that's what it was inspired by.

For various reasons I'm currently running down my freezer and I had a pack of raw chorizo style cooking sausages in there.  I also had an enormous pack of dried haricot beans in the cupboard which have been there for more than a year (if you read my Britmums Cassoulet post you might see why!)  Anyway, I do love the combination of the sausage and beans in cassoulet and wondered if I could mix it up a bit.

Spanish Sausage and Beans - Serves 2 adults, 1 child and a sneaky spoonful left for Mummy's lunch

Ingredients

200g, 7oz Dried Haricot Beans
1/2 Onion, finely diced
4-5 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp Olive oil
1 Bay leaf (dried is fine)
1 Large sprig of parsley (including stalks)
454g, 1lb Chorizo style cooking sausages

Method

Soak the beans overnight in cold water.

When ready to cook, drain the beans and put into a saucepan with plenty of boiling water.  Bring to the boil and boil for 15 minutes.  Skim the scum off the top now and again as this will stop it boiling over.

While the beans are boiling, soften the onion and garlic in the oil gently for a few minutes.

Once the beans were boiled, drain them and put in the pan with the garlic and onion and approx 500ml of boiling water.  Simmer, covered for approx 45 minutes or until cooked.  This can vary by the age of the beans.

When the beans are almost cooked, dry fry the sausages until browned a bit then slice them into three pieces each (they will still be raw in the middle but this doesn't matter.)  Mix with the beans and pour into an ovenproof dish.  Bake in the oven at 180oC, 350F, Gas Mark 4 until the sausages are cooked and a crust has formed.  Give them a stir or two during the cooking time.

Serve with parsley if liked, with vegetables or salad or just with crusty bread and a good Spanish beer!

My 3 year old was very impressed (with the cooking, not beer) and had thirds!  Even though the sausages actually had some chilli in them, by cooking them with the beans, they calmed them down a bit.  Definitely a success.

Make it Thrifty

The best way to keep costs down with this meal is to use the rest of the oven space for pudding!

Chorizo and Chickpea soup

This is a great 'cupboards are bare' recipe as you can get packs of chorizo which last in the fridge for ages or even freeze it (this is often what I do if I have a part opened pack).  Take a look at the 'make it thrifty' section for other ideas to keep costs down.

This is a bit cunning.  Only 90g of meat for 2-3 portions yet a soup which tastes meaty and flavoursome and 5 different vegetables sneakily inside; onion, carrot, pepper, tomatoes and chickpeas.  Trust me, you or any vegetable hating family members would struggle to notice all of them.  Hidden in plain sight...

Smoked paprika is a pricey spice but a fantastic one and a great way to 'extend' the chorizo flavour without using masses of it.  Look out for the 'sweet' versions as some can be very spicy but some are milder and full of smokey barbecue aromas.  I prefer the milder versions, especially when I'm cooking for the little one.

It feels like there's not long left for soup season, especially when the birds are starting to sing in the trees and the blossom is already here but I feel this recipe spans the seasons.  Still great when it's chilly but a reminder of warm summers just around the corner spent nibbling chorizo and chickpea based tapas.

Chorizo and chickpea soup - Serves 2 adults easily with seconds (or leftovers for lunch)

Ingredients

90g, 3oz Chorizo, chopped into small chunks
1 small or half large onion, finely diced
1/2 carrot finely diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 red pepper (capsicum), chopped
1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1 tin of tomatoes (approx 400g, 14oz)
240g, 8.5oz tinned chickpeas, (garbanzo beans) drained (drained weight)

Method

Dry fry the chorizo, onion and carrot until the oil starts to run.  Add the garlic and smoked paprika and fry for a further minute or two.  Add in the pepper, tomatoes, chickpeas and 250ml / 8.5floz of boiling water and bring to the boil.

Turn down to a simmer and cook for a further 15-20 minutes or until the carrots are cooked.  Serve with crusty bread and a sprinkle of parsley if you're feeling especially like feeling like emulating a 1970's cook book vibe!

Make it Thrifty

As I said at the start, you can freeze chorizo, especially if you have part of a pack open which may not be used and in this kind of recipe, if frozen in chunks you can use it straight from the freezer.  Peppers also freeze pretty well if using in soups or stews like this (obviously you couldn't use them in salads after freezing.)  

If you like this, why not try this Moroccan soup with chickpeas?

I've linked up to Nomday Monday.

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Mild Chicken and Vegetable Curry for kids

My son has been off curries recently.  Nursery have tried but he'd been really reluctant.  Stupidly I then started to avoid cooking curries.  I always say the only way to ensure your child is fussy is to stop offering certain foods and there I was doing it myself!

As a child who grew up in the UK midlands, not liking curry is not an option!

So faced with some chicken and chicken stock which needed using up from Sunday lunch one week, I made this.  Nothing authentic about it but it was very tasty.

Mild Chicken Curry - serves 1 adult and 1 toddler

Ingredients

1/2 onion, fined chopped
1 Garlic clove, chopped
1 tsp Oil
1 rounded tsp Korma curry paste
400-600ml, approx 1 pint chicken stock or water (I used 200ml home made chicken stock made from the bones of the Sunday joint and 300ml water, see method below)
30g, 1 oz Red lentils
30g, 1 oz Frozen chopped spinach
2-3 small leftover waxy potatoes
A large handful of leftover chicken
1/4 tsp Garam masala

To serve; basmati rice; frozen peas.

Method

Fry the onion in the oil for a few seconds until starting to brown.  Add in the garlic followed by the curry paste.  Stir then add the stock and / or water.  Make sure you're using low salt or home made salt free stock if you are using it.

Add the lentils and boil, covered for 10 minutes.  Check and stir adding in more boiling water if it's starting to reduce too much.  Once boiled, simmer until the lentils are cooked.  This can take 5-20 minutes depending on the age of the lentils.

Once cooked you can leave the sauce until later when you're ready to eat.  Refrigerate if it's going to be more than an hour or so.

When ready to eat, cook some basmati rice on a hob adding in a large handful of frozen peas in the last 2-3 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, reheat the sauce and add the spinach.  When it's melted into the sauce add in the chicken and potatoes and heat through.

Last minute stir the garam masala into the curry and serve with the rice and pea mixture.  A great source of hidden vegetables (peas in the rice, spinach and lentils in the curry) and a great source of protein (chicken and lentils) but the best thing was, even though it was mild for me, it was still flavoursome and my son LOVED it!  Everything went!  Yay Mummy!

Then we followed this up with banana and custard.  Well I am from the midlands... :-)

Make it Thrifty

This is a darned thrifty recipe anyway because it uses up leftovers (chicken, stock, potatoes) but you could use whatever you have left.  Cooked cauliflower warmed through might be particularly good.  I've been vague on the quantities of chicken but it really doesn't matter.  Use what you have!

Best Pancake recipes

Pancakes; I'm a bit of a fan; in fact, one of my very early recipes was for a sugar free American style pancake recipe so I thought, with Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Day or Mardi Gras) looming on 4th March this year, I'd tell you about my favourites!

The point of Shrove Tuesday was to use up all of the rich ingredients in the house like eggs and sugar before the traditional period of fasting and reflection of Lent.  Pancakes though are a fantastic way to make food quickly and easily and make a meal out of eggs (mostly, see below!)  Eggs are a great way to include vitamin D into your diet which is often lacking in our bodies at this time of year (as I look outside to the frosty ground and sun shining weakly on my garden!)

All of my recipes are made without added sugar or are low in sugar unless you add some with the topping with syrups or icing sugar which makes them great even for babies.


Sweet

My original sugar free pancake recipe is here (with step by step instructions).  This is the one I come back to again and again and was a finger food my son absolutely loved as a baby.

A slight extension from this was to include berries into the batter in my berry pancakes (defrosted frozen berries would work well at this time of year.)

I also made some for my new blog using frozen cherries which were lovely pink pancakes!

Savoury

By rights I'm no fan of a savoury pancake recipe, especially when it's a crepe wrapped around something which would work much better if it was inside cannelloni (I'm thinking spinach / ricotta mixes here particularly).

That said, I am a fan of the savoury American style batters, basically vegetable fritter recipes but my absolute favourite has to be my sweetcorn fritter recipe.

Sweetcorn in a slightly spiced savoury batter dunked into sweet chilli sauce.  If you make too many they are even great for lunch, warmed up for a few seconds in a microwave.

You can also make really decent potato pancakes which would be great with a fry up.

Traditional

For the UK anyway this is a traditional pancake recipe, a thin pancake with a filling is the traditional thing (I've chosen strawberries here but I do love lemon juice and sugar).  My recipe includes step by step instructions on how to make a traditional crepe if you're a bit lost.

Special Diets

Not everyone is able to eat every ingredient sadly and food allergies are on the rise.  I work in food safety and I'm aware of how difficult it is to live with these restrictions from day to day.  This is why I often try and find ways to make traditional recipes but avoiding some of the key food allergens.

My egg free pancakes might sound like an impossibility but there's a great thing about bananas that they lend so much structure to the batter.  It started out as an accident when I forgot to add eggs to the batter one time and realised I didn't notice the difference (so much so it took me years to repeat thinking I'd simply got it wrong and put eggs in after all!)

You do notice a slight difference in flavour with the dairy free pancakes but not in a bad way and it's great if you just don't have much milk in but need breakfast!

Unusual ingredients

I've also made a few more twists on the classic by making wholemeal pancakes or even including ground almonds (see top photo; delicious by the way).

Alternatively if you are using syrup or honey, yogurt pancakes add a slight tang which is great against the sweet topping.

I suppose this kind of development on a theme harks back to the days when the pancake was to use what was left in the cupboard before the fasting began.