Coconut Banana Pancakes

These pancakes would have had a serious identity crisis, if they had been around long enough to say c-r-i-s-i-s. Thankfully, eating at the speed of lightening is among my many talents! These breakfast treats were originally meant to be the luscious Bihari Malpua's. It all started when I read about Vikram's tryst with substandard Malpua's in Pune, and then his explanation on what the Malpua should taste like. The minute I read the description, I knew I had to have it.

Vikram had outlined a deceptively simple recipe which went..."Mix this-that, fry, dip in syrup, boom!" So humming to myself, thinking about rich syrupy Malpua's for breakfast, I set to work. Mixed the this and that, let it ferment for a bit, made the syrup, still humming tunelessly, and then when it came to the frying part...well, lets just say this, it wasn't pretty. They just didn't turn out like I had imagined. Soft in the middle, a little crunchy on the outside, dripping with syrup is what I wanted. Thats what it should have been, right? Well, wrong.

I'll spare you the details but I looked at my batter and didn't have the heart to throw it away. So when my cooking experiments gave me lemons, I made lemonade, errr...pancakes. And they were lip-smackingly delicious. I'm not kidding, the smacking noises woke the neighbours up, who, obviously thought the worst! :)



Coconut Banana Pancakes

1 cup flour
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut, (if you are using frozen coconut, thaw completely before adding to the batter)
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tsp cardamom powder
1tsp star anise essence (you could use fennel seeds/saunf)
1/2 cup yogurt/buttermilk
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
confectioners sugar, to dust

This is a pretty forgiving recipe. So adjust the proportions according to what looks right to you. The batter should be of pouring consistency, but not too thin. The proportions given here are not exact. Mix everything together till smooth, don't overmix or you will end up with tough pancakes. Let the batter rest for a while, about 10-15 mins. Go do some exercise or something. Seriously, leave it alone!
Then pull out your pancake griddle or plain ol' tawa. Pour a ladleful of batter on a hot griddle and let it cook on one side. Once you see bubbles form on the surface, flip it over and cook the other side. Dust with some sugar and serve with syrup or a drizzle of honey


The natural sweetness of the coconut and banana made the traditional maple syrup unnecessary. A light dusting of sugar and a spoonful of honey was all these pancakes needed. The fermentation made the pancaked super soft and fluffy and the cardamom and anise gave it the just the right amount of spice, kicking the pancakes into exotic territory.

Since the last one was hardly a recipe, these head over to join the party at Divya's too!