Coconut Pancakes

Coconut Pancakes is a sweet traditional dessert roll made with flour crepes and freshly grated coconut. It is popularly made on Pancake Tuesday, a few days before the season of Lent.

Lent is here and as always we start the season with Pancake Tuesday and end it with hot cross buns!

Pancakes have a special day! Yes, there's pancake Tuesday but it is also known by many other names such as Shrove Tuesday, mardi gras (very popular)

As kids while we didn't think much of lent other than the fact that a few things were off-limits the start of it was always fun. Starting with these delicious pancakes.

Now the recipe is the same for the crepe and yet, you can make them in many different ways. For example, you can either color the crepes and keep the filling a neutral color or you can color the filling and keep the crepes with natural white color.

Growing up in India, we got to sample a few variations made by East-Indians, Goans, and Mangaloreans. My mom made colorful crepes filled with a sweet mixture of grated coconut, raisins, and cashews. The Goan pancakes are made with grated coconut and black jaggery while our Mangalorean neighbor made them with coconut and regular palm jaggery.

Having lived abroad for many years, my choice of filings have been wonderfully different from coconut filling to Apple pie filling, pecan pie, dates, and condensed milk sweetened coconut.

How to make pancakes

Crepe batter

• In a medium mixing bowl beat the egg. Gradually add the milk followed by the flour and salt. Add the melted butter with vanilla and almond extract.
  Pro tip - do not overmix the batter as too much air will make large air pockets which result in holes in the pancake when cooking.

Prepare filling

• In a skillet or saucepan, combine the grated coconut with sugar and almond essence. Cook on medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the coconut softens. Then add the raisins and vanilla extract. Cool to room temperature.
  Pro tip - keep the heat to medium-low other the sugar will caramelize giving you a darker color. I like my filling light and pretty.

Prepare crepes

• Heat a non-stick pan (20 cm) and lightly grease it with oil or melted butter.
• Pour about ¼ cup of the batter and swirl the pan so the batter is evenly distributed into a thin layer. Cook for 2 minutes on medium heat. Flip over and cook 30 seconds more on the other side. Remove on a clean kitchen cloth.
  Pro tip - it is important that the crepes are thin or they will look very bulky and you won't be able to roll them with the filling.

Fill the crepe

• Place a crepe on a plate. Add about 2 tbsps amount of filling on the top half of the crepe. Roll the top short side over the filling, then bring the two shorter sides over it. Then roll towards the bottom. Continue until all the crepes are filled or all filling is used up.

Storage

• The pancake batter will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.
• The coconut filling will also keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.
• And the prepared pancakes with fresh coconut filling will also keep in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days.
• Note that coconut is a perishable ingredients so it must be kept in the fridge.

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