Easy Pancakes

Don't look any further for other pancake recipes. This is the mother of all pancake recipes. And I mean that in two ways. First, my mother gave me the recipe, and second.. well, you can do just about anything with this recipe to make it your own. It trumps all.

The secret is that its just a complete basic recipe. There are no frills, no complicated steps, nothing. Everyone has these basic ingredients in their pantry, and you have yourself a pancake. Anything extra is a bonus! Have fun playing with different flavours and styles in the batter - and mix it up with toppings as well.


Makes 10-13 medium pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup White flour
1 tsp Baking powder
3/4 C Sugar
1 C Milk
1/4 C Water
1 Tbsp Melted butter (optional)

To Make:
1. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add baking powder and sugar.

2. Pour in the milk, water and melted butter, and whisk together until mixed well.

3. Heat up your fry-pan on medium heat and melt a small amount of butter - approx 1 tsp.

4. Using a ladle, pour approx 1/4 C of batter onto the pan.

5. When the pancake begins to get 'holes' or 'bubbles' on the top, flip it over using a spatula and cook until a golden brown colour. *Note - if it looks a little burnt before the holes appear, the flame is too high.

Serve hot with desired toppings.

Recipe from
my mama


















Other ideas:

* Topping can include maple syrup, golden syrup, cinnamon, icing sugar, honey, whipped cream or my favorites - lemon juice and sugar or fresh berries.

* To make a particular flavour pancake, add a small amount to the batter - ie 1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 1 tsp lemon zest or other such flavours.

* For a more rich pancake, use 1/4 C cream instead of water or even just 1 1/4 C Milk and omit the water completely.

* Fresh fruit pancakes are scrumptious too, try adding 1/4 C mashed bananas to the batter, or 1/4 C mango puree. If the batter gets too thick, you can just add more water, or if its too thin, you can add a little more flour.

* Omit the sugar and add 1 tsp salt. Voila - instant savoury pancakes. You can either have plain, or add grated potato in the batter. Serve with tomato chutney and fresh salad.

Sweet-rice

There's nothing quite like a bowl of chilled sweet-rice. Its just as the name suggests - its rice, and its sweet. Whats not to love! I love it thick and creamy like a pudding or thick custard, but if you like it runny and more like a drink, just reduce the amount of rice used.

I love this particular recipe because its very simple, and doesn't need a whole bunch of exotic ingredients, although it does take some time. You could adapt this recipe with different fruits, nuts or spices, but I like to keep it simple. The tip to making this just right is to be by the stove the whole time, so the rice doesn't burn and it doesn't become clumpy.

Its best to make this at least a few hours before you want to serve it because not only does it take a bit of time to make, it needs time to cool, and then time to chill in the fridge. I usually make it the night before I need it so it can chill in the fridge overnight.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 L Milk
3/4 C Rice - short-grain is best.
3/4 C Sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence


To Make:
1. Bring the milk to a boil. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't spill.

2. Turn the heat down and add the rice. Continue to simmer, constantly stirring to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. After about half an hour or so, the sweet-rice will begin to thicken.

3. When the rice becomes translucent, add the sugar and vanilla essence and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the rice is completely cooked.

4. Set aside to cool, and then put in the fridge. Serve chilled.

I've been making this for years so I'm unsure where I got the recipe from!

Potato and Carrot soup

The last few weeks I've been making a delicious creamy potato soup. Its super easy and you only need one pot...easy cleanup! Plus my three-year old loves it - a great way to get veges into him!

Today I had carrots and potatoes boiling on the stove for mashed veges... but decided halfway through to try it as a soup instead. I'm glad I did - it was a great adapted version of the plain soup, and even more delicious! The carrots give a fabulous flavour and the outcome is a perfect soup for warming up those cold winter nights.


Ingredients:
6 Medium sized potatoes - washed, peeled and cut into small cubes.
3 Large carrots - washed, peeled and grated.
6 C Water
6 C Milk
1/4 tsp Asafoetida (hing) - optional
1 Tbsp Dried oregano
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Salt

To make:
1. Bring the water to boil. Add the potatoes and grated carrots and cook until soft. DO NOT drain the water out. Remove from the heat.

2. Add the milk, asafoetida, oregano, pepper and salt and stir to ensure its mixed thoroughly.

3. Blend everything together using a hand blender. If you prefer, leave a few chunks of potato in the soup, and don't over blend. Best served hot with chunks of wholemeal bread.

Click here for original recipe.

Mango Slushy

I know I know, I just posted a mango recipe! But I couldn't resist, this is just too delicious. Plus I DO have about ten mangoes on my windowsill right now that need using. I've also made the same recipe with bananas and its just as yummy!

This is a good one to make with the kids, my son loved getting his hands in the mangoes, and then pressing the button on the stick blender.


Makes two cups

Ingredients:
24 Water ice-cubes
24 Milk ice-cubes
1 C Mango puree (2 medium fresh mangoes)
2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Cardamom (optional)

To make:
Blend all the ingredients using a stick blender, or put all in the blender and blend until smooth. The end result should be thick like a slushy, not runny like a milkshake. If its too thin, add more milk/water ice cubes.

Recipe told to me by a friend.

Vegan Mango Cake (Cupcakes)

So here goes. I'm starting with something basic, and delicious too of course. The recipe that I originally found was yum as it was, but I've adjusted it slightly for a different taste. Mangoes season is in full swing now, and all around its been mango chutney, mango sweet-rice, mango ice cream.

Here's my go at something mango....



Ingredients:
1 1/2 C Mango Puree* I used two large fresh mangoes instead of mango puree. I would assume you could try other summer fruits in here too but I haven't tried it with anything other than mangoes yet.
1 1/2 C White flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/3 C Oil
1/2 C Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence

To make:
1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

2. Sift the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in another bowl, making sure there are no mango lumps left. I used a stick blender to make sure the mangoes were well and truly smushed up.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and whisk until fully combined. DO NOT OVER MIX.

5. Pour into a well greased cake tin and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked. Alternatively, pour into muffin trays lined with cupcake papers and bake for 10-12 minutes or until fully cooked.

PS yes, this is a vegan cake!

Click here for original recipe.


















Nothing is complete without icing! I made plain buttercream icing, but feel free to add a little leftover mango puree for flavour. To keep these cupcakes vegan however, I suggest a light dusting of icing sugar, topped with a few slices of fresh mangoes.

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp softented butter (or vegan butter if you'd prefer to keep everything vegan)
1 C sifted icing sugar

To make:
Cream the butter and icing sugar with a rubber spatula until fully combined. You can use on the muffins any way you like - I piped them on but you can also just spread a generous amount over the muffins with the spatula.