Happy Shrove Tuesday people a.k.a Pancake day. I haven’t made pancakes in ages because it is one of those things you have to eat with people. My Pancake memories are linked with people lining up and waiting for each Pancake from the pan, so to make a jug for just me or maybe my flatmate, just doesn’t cut it. Pancake is for sharing, pancake is communal, pancake is for family, pancake is for friends, and this post is about my friend Funmi. My personal, person, person, person. I tend to be friends with people much older than me, old soul my mother calls me, but in one of those very rare moments, I connect well with someone my age and Funmi is one of those people, and like I did with Labake, last year, I am doing this with Funmi. For the benefit of anyone who reads this, we are not cooking partners, we are great friends, friends who are direct and open with each other, no drama. If you have a problem with that, tough.
Funmi and I were talking about pastry, and she said ah, let me tell you about Nigerian Pancake. I said yeah, the kind of Pancakes my Mum makes. She said nope, this one is different, you will use seasoning cubes, crayfish, onions and pepper. I know about people adding onions and chopped pepper to pancake batter, but seasoning cubes and crayfish? On my way home, I thought hell naw!!!!! Seasoning cubes and crayfish with eggs and milk, what in the world. Seconds after, it gelt like my alter ego was speaking to me, saying, really Dunni!!!!, You of all people should not have that attitude to “weird ingredients”, in a traditional recipe. I remember laughing at myself, and with Pancake Tuesday approaching, I knew I was going to try it.
Like with making stew, the taste of the finished product, can be traced directly to the taste of the raw components. The second I tasted the batter, I thought whooooooa!!!! OMG!!!! This is soooooooooo nice. I fried the first pancake, and it disappeared in seconds, oh wow. I loooooooooooove.
My mother still makes the best Pancakes, oh yes she does. I mean, if I can make it for a Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef (who pancakes to him must be like boiled rice to us) and he said Dunni, that is one of the best pancakes I have ever eaten in my life. Anytime the talk of Pancakes come up, Chef Fregz still says mehn, Dunni those your pancakes, when are you coming back to Lagos to make them for me again. I mean, my head was swelling on my mother’s behalf, and when I told her, you should have seen the biggest grin on her face. So, let us agree that she makes THE BEST SWEET pancakes (recipe HERE), but this, is THE best SAVOURY pancake you will ever try. The fact that seasoning cubes and crayfish paired so well with eggs, milk and flour, you can imagine the other Nigerian ingredients I am going to be adding to Pancake. In fact, my head has been brimming with ideas all morning.
Let’s Cook
- I used the recipe for my mother's pancake HERE (except the butter and lemon rind)
- 1 seasoning cube
- Crayfish - ground or whole
- Chopped Onions
- Chopped ata rodo - scotch bonnet/habanero pepper
- Break the eggs into a blender, add milk and the crayfish
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- Add Sugar, Salt, seasoning cubes, dry pepper, flour and blend till smooth
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- Once the batter is smooth, pour into a bowl and add chopped onions and pepper
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- Heat up a little oil in the frying pan, add a ladle spoonful and fry
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- Because they are savoury pancakes, I though oooooh, I can make a simple sauce with chopped onions, chopped pepper, a little belnded pepper and whole crayfish. I tossed them around in a pan with a teaspoon of oil and poured over the pancakes.
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Will you be trying these pancakes out this weekend, oh you better, because trust me, these are goooooooooood, No scratch that, greeeeeeeeaaaaat!!!!! That was breakfast today, complete with freshly brewed coffee. Yaaaaay to Shrove Tuesday 2015.
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