I want pancakes for dinner rather than for dessert on Shrove Tuesday this year. What should I make?
Rosie, Peterborough
The thing about pancakes, Rosie, is that they’re wonderfully versatile, from Indian dosas and Japanese okonomiyaki to German flädlesuppe (a clear broth with strips of crepes). Which way you choose to go depends on what you fancy, of course, but experimenting with different flours is as good a place to start as any. For Ed Smith, whose latest cookbook Crave is out in May, that means looking to France and crepes or galettes made with buckwheat flour (“or wholemeal or an ancient grain flours”), which he fills with grated cheese, egg and spinach or ham. “You don’t need to go beyond the classic callings.”
Another option is chickpea pancakes, a favourite of Chantelle Nicholson, chef/owner of All’s Well and Tredwells in London. She mixes gram or yellow pea flour with a little milk or water and baking powder (to give it some rise), then ladles into a frying pan. “We used to make them at Tredwells,” she says, “served with stir-fried seasonal vegetables, pickled shallots to give it some acidity, tofu puree [tofu blitzed with toasted sesame seeds, ginger, garlic and soy sauce] over the top, and a really spicy sambal.”
Pancakes are also a good opportunity to use up stuff you’ve got in the cupboard. Red lentils can be turned into a batter, says chef Romy Gill: soak in water, then blend to a paste and add yoghurt, baking powder, salt, spices and herbs (dried or fresh). Once cooked, just add salad, chutney or fried eggs. “Kimchi pancakes are also delicious,” Nicholson adds. “Mix with a bit of rice flour, baking powder and a touch of milk or plant-based milk, then fry.” A sprout or cabbage slaw makes a good partner, as does stir-fried purple sprouting broccoli, or kale – “basically all the green stuff”.
Of course, if you’re cooking for more than one, the perennial problem is keeping your pancakes warm enough to eat together. Smith’s solution is to treat them like cannelloni, filling, rolling and baking them in a gratin dish (and known in Italy as crespelle). “Pancakes can be a bit bland, so fill them with something strong and punchy, but also texturally soft and yielding,” he says. That might be a rich mushroom ragu or a wilted chard, anchovy, garlic and parmesan cream: “Fill them really generously – it doesn’t matter if the filling spills out – then gratinate it in the oven.”
Alternatively, make one big potato pancake to share. Anna Jones mashes cooked spuds, mixes in polenta and grated cheddar, seasons and fries in olive oil until golden on both sides; Nicholson simply adds egg, a little milk and flour, but warns to go light on the latter: “You want it to be more potato-y than pancake-y.” Such a wintry dish cries out for braised meat, saucy veg or cheese and caramelised onions.
Finally, sweet and savoury pancakes aren’t mutually exclusive. “I think Rosie should have the sweet pancakes as well,” Smith advises. “And there is only one answer there: Delia Smith’s basic recipe, plus sugar and lemon.”
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