Posts Tagged ‘Food’

Grandma’s pancake recipe

// April 5th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Food

Pancakes pannekoek recipe resepThis recipe has been in our family for ages, and while it’s a fairly basic one, it’s practically fool-proof.

As a kid, I especially remember the rainy days, confined to the house and slowly running out of fun things to do. Just as cabin fever would set in, mom would gather the kids and start baking pancakes.

As the scent of cinnamon sugar lingered through the house and our tummies duly filled, we would actually wish for more days of rain.

So without further ado, here’s the recipe for fool-proof pancakes.

    Ingredients

  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 250ml milk
  • 50g butter
    Method

  1. Sift the dry ingredients, flour baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and mix well.
  2. Mix the eggs and milk together and combine with the dry ingredients.
  3. Whisk the batter until all the lumps disappear, it should be the same consistency as thin cream.
  4. Melt the butter in a pan (or nuke it briefly in the microwave).
  5. Spoon 2 tbsp of the butter it into the batter and whisk it in, then use the rest to oil your pan (even non-stick pans need a little when making pancakes).
  6. Heat a bit of water in a pot and place a plate with the pot’s lid on top. The steam will heat the plate and keep the finished pancakes hot.
  7. Get your pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you’re using the correct amount of batter.
  8. Ladle the batter into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the pan, roll it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter.
  9. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a spatula. Flip the pancake over and cook the other side for only a few seconds. Now simply slide the pancake out of the pan onto the heated plate.
  10. Stack the pancakes on top of each other, remember to sprinkle your mixture of cinnamon sugar between each layer.

Serve
To serve, sprinkle each pancake with some freshly squeezed lemon juice and the cinnamon sugar mixture and simply roll them up. Of course you could go completely overboard decadent by adding any topping of your choice, think whipped cream, maple or golden syrup, slices of banana, chocolate flakes (Aero, Flake or Crunchy works well). Enjoy!

Oh so avant-garde

// March 24th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Travel

Picture this. Here I am, sitting in a charming historical house with Georgian façade, accessed by a series of inner and outer staircases and furnished with a mixture of original old Cape Cottage furniture and some contemporary modern pieces. (more…)

Can I still eat this?

// April 1st, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Food

Eat it or toss it

Picture this. You’re eating your favourite chocolate bar. Just as you take your next bite, a big piece breaks off and falls to the floor. What do you do? Shout something like “five-second rule“, pick it up and pop that sucker in your mouth or do you toss it?

Unfortunately those of us keen to pick it up without thinking twice about the possibility of contamination are in for a bit of a surprise. An episode of MythBusters (and a scientific study) indicated that even a 2 second exposure carries a risk of collecting bacteria.

Food falling on the floor is one thing. What about that pizza you left out overnight, is it still safe to eat? According to the website StillTasty.com it might be a bad idea to eat that too.

The website is very informative with shelf life information on various food groups (opened and unopened) and answers a fridge-load full of questions ranging from the best ways to defrost food to all you need to know about expiry dates.

Very interesting stuff.

For the love of chocolate

// March 18th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Food

Like many people, I have an affinity for the angient Aztec delight of xocolatl, or better known today as chocolate. Once in a while we (my wife and I) head off to Hyde Park’s Chocadore to indulge in their finest pralines.

Today I read that Chocadore is spreading the decadence. In April they will be opening their new store in the trendy suburb of Parkhurst. The new store will be situated on the main street of 4th Avenue in The Cobbles Centre. Lucky Parkhurstians…..

If only they would open up a chocolat shoppe here in the Fourways area. Double cream yumm.

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