Nutty Japanese pancakes
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- less than 10 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
- Dietary
- Vegetarian
Slice into one of these fluffy Japanese pancakes and be rewarded with a sweet, nutty centre.
Ingredients
For the pancakes
- self-raising flour: 125²µ/4½´Ç³ú self-raising flour
- brown sugar: 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
- baking powder: 1 tsp baking powder
- bicarbonate of soda: ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- milk: 125ml/4fl oz full-fat milk
- egg: 1 large free-range egg, beaten
- lemon juice: 1 tbsp Greek yoghurt or 1 tsp lemon juice
- butter: 15²µ/½´Ç³ú butter, melted
- sunflower oil: 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- icing sugar: 1–2 tsp icing sugar, to serve
For the filling
- peanut butter: 3 tbsp almond or peanut butter
- coconut cream: 25g/1oz coconut cream, from the top of a can of coconut milk
- brown sugar: 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
Method
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl. Pour in the milk and stir well. Add the egg, yoghurt and melted butter and whisk together to combine.
Mix together the ingredients for the filling in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat a teaspoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Ladle two heaps of the batter into the pan and spread into discs around 9cm/3½in in diameter. Cook for 1 minute, or until puffed up and tiny bubbles have risen to the surface. Top one of the pancakes with a tablespoon of the nut filling and cover with the second pancake, uncooked side down.
Cook the sandwiched pancakes for a further minute on that side, then gently flip over and cook on the other side for an extra minute, or until the pancake is just cooked, but still creamy in the centre, adding a little extra oil if needed. Transfer to a warmed plate, sprinkle with sifted icing sugar and serve. Repeat with the remaining batter and filling to make a second pancake.
Recipe tips
Not all coconut milk separates, so it's important to use good quality coconut milk. Often this isn't the most expensive – look for a high percentage of coconut extract in the ingredients list. Chilling the coconut milk will also help it to separate.
