Quick and Easy Pancakes

I do enjoy having pancakes for breakfast once in a while, though not really as a dessert unless they are thin crepe-like ones filled with cream cheese and served with strawberry sauce (sounds familiar? Pancakes on the Rocks??). On the weekends, while I'm still half asleep in bed in the morning, the kids would come close to me and scream into my ear "Mummy! Wake up! Can you make me some pancakes/french toast/scrambled eggs for breakfast?!!".

I've made pancakes on several occasions using various recipes, and I found that the simplest one is the best. These pancakes don't use fancy ingredients and can be prepared in minutes. You really don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen making breakfast nor cleaning up after that. Moreover, the kids think I can just make food appear on the table at the snap of my fingers, or nod of the head, blink of the eyes....you know. Hungry kids just want their food quickly, because if you make them wait too long, they get distracted and might change their mind about what they want to eat.

I just love how easy these pancakes are, and they have a lovely texture that is not too airy nor too dense. We enjoy them with just butter and maple syrup, though you can use this basic recipe to make them into something a bit fancier.

Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
Butter

Method

1. Combine flour, bicarbonate of soda, ugar and salt in a large bowl and mix with a whisk.
2. In small bowl, beat the egg and combine with the milk. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix with  a whisk until you get a smooth batter. Add a little more milk if the batter is too thick.
3. Heat up a non-stick pan on medium heat and melt a little butter in it, enough to grease the surface.
4. Use a ladle to pour about 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan. Do this in one stroke so that the surface of the pancake browns evenly. I used a large pan, so I made two pancakes at a time.
5. Let the pancakes cook for 2 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface and start to look almost dry and set. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook the other side for 1 minute or until lightly browned. Transfer onto a serving plate and repeat with the rest of the batter.
6. Serve the pancakes immediately with butter and maple syrup, or your favourite topping.

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Char Kuay Teow (2015 edition)



Here's a new and improved recipe for Char Kuay Teow (fried rice noodles), a popular street food in Malaysia. Try this version and let me know what you think :)

Char Kuay Teow
Serves 1

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp lard (or substitute with vegetable oil)
4 prawns, peeled
6 thinly sliced fishcake
6 thinly sliced Lup Cheong (Chinese sausage)
1/2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
200g fresh rice noodles (separate the strands before cooking)
1 cup beansprouts
A handful garlic chives (cut into 2 inch lengths)
1 egg

Sauce (mix together in a bowl):
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp Cheong Chan thick caramel (dark soy)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp kecap manis
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp chicken stock powder
Dash of white pepper
1 tbsp water

Chilli paste:
1 cup dried red chillies, deseeded and soaked in warm water for 3-4 hours
1-2 fresh red chillies
2 shallots
3 cloves garlic
Sugar and salt to taste
Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Prepare chilli paste first. Drain the dried chillies that have been soaked, and roughly chop up. Place in a blender along with 4-5 tbsp water, and blend with the rest of the ingredients until very fine. Heat up about 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok and fry the chilli paste for 10-15 minutes until dry. Remove and set aside to cool.

To cook char kuay teow:

1. Take 1/2 tbsp of the chilli paste prepared earlier and mix with 1 tbsp water in a bowl. Set aside.

2. In a wok, heat up lard over high heat and fry the prawns, Chinese sausage and fishcake slices. When the prawns are almost cooked, add garlic and fry briefly.

3. Toss in the noodles and drizzle the sauce over it. Mix in with the noodles and stir-fry quickly, moving the spatula back and forth until noodles are well coated. Stir in the chilli paste from step 1 until mixed through.

4. Toss in beansprouts. Then turn the heat down to medium. Crack an egg into the centre of the noodles and give it a quick stir through the noodles.

5. Toss in the garlic chives and mix through quickly for 10 seconds. The noodles should be fairly moist, and if not, add a few drops of water (or extra lard if desired). Transfer to a plate immediately and serve hot.

Chilli paste

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