Yemeni Pancakes

Over the weekend, I wanted to treat myself, and I figured I should try out a recipe from Jamie's Great Britain that I had yet to look use.
I cannot believe it took me so long to get around to it! It's funny with recipe books - you get all excited about them, but then..you tend to put them in a shelf and forget about them. That's why I like to (along with a pile of recipes I've jotted down from lots of different websites) take out at least one recipe leaflet or cookbook and use for good ideas whenever I make a writing list for my main week shopping round (Saves me money, and I don't have to worry about what to have for dinner - score!).
This recipe intrigued me, as I had been wanting to try making pancakes using at least a little bit of cornflour. Originally, they should turn out looking as if they have little holes in them, instead - mine looked like turtle-shells! And so I might just start calling them turtle-shell-pancakes whenever I make them in the future. Perfect for both sweet or savoury fillings, and velvet to the touch!

Yemeni Pancakes
(Makes 6-7 pancakes, about 101-87 calories each)

1/2 7g sachet fast action dry yeast
50ml lukewarm water
1 tsp runny honey
1 large egg
200ml skimmed milk
85g (self-raising) flour
85g cornflour or semolina
(1/3 tsp each bicarbonate of soda and baking powder if using plain flour)
A pinch of seasalt
1 tsp olive oil for frying

- Start by heating up water to body temperature, and mix in the yeast and honey with it in a little bowl. Set to rest somewhere warm-ish for about 20 minutes.

- In a baking bowl, combine the flours, salt, and raising agents if using, stir, stir, stir! In another bowl, whisk together the egg and milk.

- Once the yeast mixture has been left for 20 minutes, pour it into the bowl with the egg and milk. Make a well in your flour mixture and pour the liquid into it.

- Brush a little olive oil into a small non-stick frying pan and heat it up on high. In the meantime, whisk the pancake batter until it is nice and smooth and no lumps are in sight!

- Now, pour a little over a half ladleful of the batter into the pan and fry for a few minutes on each side until golden. One side will either have a bit of a bubbly-look OR look like a turtle-shell, the other one will be slightly paler. After having made a few pancakes, turn down the heat a notch, and continue making pancakes out of the remaining batter.

Turtle-shells!

And it's ready! Originally it's served up with butter and honey, which is loooovely, but I like it more fruity, so I'd normally have it with some fresh fruit, jam or marmelade, mmmm!
Perfect as a snack, for when people come visit, or in your lunch box - enjoy!

On another note, I had completely forgotten that I haven't actually written down many recipes physically since I started blogging. This means I always have to look it up on my blog as a reference instead of having a book at hand. The reason why that is, is proooobably because the recipe book I've got is starting to fill up (no wonder!).

So the other day I bought four notepads in different colours and divided them into four categories, using this little press-label machine my grandmother gave me years and years ago!
What do you think? I can't wait to start writing it all down, though I suspect it might take quite some time, but it's worth it!


Original source:
Jamie's Great Britain p. 26

- Jules