serves
4-5
prep
20 minutes
cook
20 minutes
difficulty
Easy
serves
4-5
people
preparation
20
minutes
cooking
20
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
Syrup
- zest of 2 oranges or limes
- 1 cup (250 ml) orange juice or 180 ml lime juice
- ¾ cup (175 g) caster sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
- 2 star anise
Batter
- 1½ cups (375 ml) milk
- ¼ cup (60 ml) white vinegar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp natural vanilla extract (3 tsp ground cinnamon if using bananas)
- 3 tbsp melted butter
- 2 cups (300 g) plain flour, sifted
- 3 tsp baking powder, sifted
- 4 tbsp caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 x 4 cm cube of unsalted butter
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries or 1 large banana, peeled and thinly sliced
Crème fraîche Anglaise
- ½ cup (125 ml) crème fraîche
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 tbsp icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
To make the syrup, combine all the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cover, remove from the heat and set aside to infuse further.
To make the batter, mix the milk and vinegar in a jug. Add the eggs, vanilla and melted butter, then mix to combine. In a medium mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients and the wet mixture, then whisk until smooth.
Heat a non-stick frypan over medium heat, stab halfway into the cube of butter with a fork and grease by whizzing it over the surface of the hot frypan. Ladle about ½ cup of batter into the frypan then drop about a dozen blueberries or banana slices evenly over the surface. When the pancake is ready to be turned over, it should have risen about 1 cm, the edges cooked and the surface pitted like a crumpet. Flip and cook on the other side until golden.
To make your crème fraîche Anglaise, beat the crème fraiche, vanilla and sugar - whether it's to soft or stiff peaks is really up to you.
Serve hot pancakes with a drizzle of the syrup and a dollop of the crème fraîche Anglaise on top.
Notes
• If you prefer plain pancakes like me, simply omit the fruit and serve with maple syrup.
• Whenever using citrus, try to cook it as little as possible. Gentle heat is excellent for infusion and a fresh vibrant flavour will be retained. Aggressive heat will create a murky marmaladey flavour.
Photograph by Randy Larcombe Photography.
Reproduced with permission from the book Same Same But Different by Poh Ling Yeow, published by ABC Books/HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 2014.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
