Calabasa glutinous rice pancake

It's my first time trying to make fried pancakes with glutinous rice flour. This is really exciting.

Recipe: Calabasa glutinous rice pancakes (make 6)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup cooked calabasa mashed

- 4 oz glutinous rice flour (about 1/2 to 1 cup)

- 3/4 tp kosher salt

- 2-3 TB brown sugar

- 2 TB vegetable oil

Procedure:

1. Heat calabasa. Then stir in brown sugar and salt. Mix until fully dissolved.

2. Allow calabasa to cool. Then stir in the glutinous flour until the mixture thickens to almost dough-like.

3. When the mixture can be handled by hand (it may still be sticky, but already can roll in the hand), then roll into balls of ping pong size.

4. Dust surface of each dough ball with flour. Then roll and flatten between palms.

5. Heat 2 TB vegetable oil in a heavy skillet on warm setting.

6. When pan is slightly hot, lay flattened dough onto greased pan and allow to cook. There should not be much sizzling as the pan is not hot enough for that. Dough should be able to detach easily enough from pan in about 15 seconds.

7. Let dough be cooked on med-low heat for a few minutes on each side. When a side is deeply golden orange, flip.

8. Pancakes are cooked when the top become slightly puffy.

9. Serve hot.

Results:
11:00am, 4 oz of glutinous rice flour:

11:00am, mashed calabasa heated up with sugar and salt:

11:00am, mashed calabasa cooling down:

11:03am, adding glutinous flour:

11:10am, batter after adding all the glutinous flour:

11:11am, experiment with the first scoop of batter; notice that batter cannot be shaped in hand, but scooped with spoon only:

11:17am, overheated and burnt batter, with too much oil at too high a temperature (medium setting); pan needed cleaning up:

11:30am, about a quarter cup or so of all-purpose flour added to strengthen batter:

11:35am, thick batter partitioned into 5 balls, still somewhat sticky, but the balls can be formed with hands dusted with flour:

11:37am, balls dusted with flour and then pressed flat between palms:

11:39am, first batch of flattened batter to fry with a little oil at med-low:

11:40am, edge of the batter bubbling gently after the first minute; pancakes become detached from pan bottom shortly after placed into pan:

11:43am, first batch of pancakes flipped after the first 4 minutes, one new piece of batter just added:

11:46am, all 5 pieces in pan, all non-sticky to pan:

11:46am, heat setting from start:

11:48am, pancakes becoming puffy when almost done:

11:51am, first piece of pancake done:

11:53am, interior of the first piece of pancake, gummy and translucent in color:

11:54am, a bite, noticeable calabasa texture:

Observations:

1. The moisture level of the dough needs to be low enough that the dough forms a pliable soft ball that can be flattened.

2. It's not necessary to have the dough dry like sandwich dough. Dust dough surface with flour just before frying is helpful for keeping pancake from sticking to the pan.

3. Not a lot of oil is needed. However, the surface of the dough must be relatively dry when it is added to the pan.

4. Fry dough at a low temperature. Use med-low setting on stove top. This allows pancakes to be cooked without being burnt.

5. Pancakes become puffy when almost done.

6. Pancakes will be golden brown, with a chewy interior when done.

A special spelt pancake breakfast

It's been a really heavy week. This morning, I am waken up by a sweet thought. What about a plate of fresh golden pancakes for hubby? That sounds good. The pancakes can be prepared in 30 minutes, just enough time for hubby to take his shower.

Recipe: Simple spelt pancakes (6 pancakes for 2)

Ingredients
- 1 cup Bob's Red Mill whole spelt flour
- 1 tp sugar
- 1.5 tp baking powder
- 1/4 tp salt
- 3/4 cup skim evaporated milk
- 1.5 tp butter

Procedure:
1. Sieve together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder. Add milk. Stir.
2. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.
3. Melt butter in non-stick heavy skillet on medium heat.
4. Turn heat down.
5. Spoon about 3-4 TB of batter to make each pancake. Cook until lightly golden on bottom. Flip. Cook for a minute or less. Remove from pan.
6. Lower heat as necessary when cooking the subsequent batch.

Results:
9:52am, milk just added to the dry ingredients:

9:53am, batter well mixed, full of small bubbles from the baking powder:

10:09am, batter rested 15 minutes, bubbles disappearing:

10:13am, batch 1 just started cooking:

10:16am, batch 1 flipped beautifully golden on the bottom:

10:17am, batch 1 done very nicely on both sides:

10:18am, batch 2 just started:

10:21am, batch 2 done:

10:24pm, batch 3 done:

Observations:
1. About 1.5 tp of butter is just enough for cooking. I don't add oil in the batter.
2. It's important to spoon batter in two times for each pancake. After the first 2 TBs, the batter spreads. Once the spreading stops, 1-2 extra TB may be spooned into the pool, but be careful not to spill over the border.

When hubby comes out of the shower, he sees the signs and the hearts on the floor, which leads him to the source of good smells, with a morning hug. It's such a lovely morning for us.

Breakfast: Spelt pancakes

I may not be the best chef ever, but hubby certainly deserves the best from me, for all the hard work that he has done for our little household. This late saturday morning, I cook him our favorite spelt pancakes again. He likes the flavor of grains. It's such a beautiful morning for us.

For hubby:

For me:

Recipes: Spelt pancakes (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1+1/2 tp baking powder
- 1 tp sugar
- 1/4 tp salt
- about 3/4 cup fat-free evaporated milk
- 1 tp vanilla
- 1 TB butter

Procedure:
1. Sieve together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
2. Mix vanilla with milk. Then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well.
3. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
4. Melt 1 TB butter in a heavy skillet. Heat pan on medium-high until butter starts to sizzle. Turn heat down to medium or med-low.
5. Pour batter onto pan, at first in 2-3 TBs. When the batter stops spreading, pour a bit more batter, but be careful not to let the batter flow out of its boundary.
6. Let sit for 30 seconds. Then check the bottom by lifting up the pancake by the edge. Flip when the bottom is done.
7. Cook the other side for about 10-30 seconds. Remove from pan and place in plate.
8. Cook subsequent batches the same manner until all is done.
9. Serve right away with syrup.

Results:
10:05am, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar sieved:

10:07am, 1 tp vanilla added to 3/4 cup evaporated fat-free milk:

10:08am, mixing the wet ingredients with the dry ones:

10:09am, very heavy and dense bubbling, from a new can of Rumford baking powder:

10:19am, batter rested 10 minutes, with a little stirring to remove lumps:

10:33am, melting butter in pan:

10:34am, first batch just poured into pan:

10:35am, first pancake bubbling:

Scoop out any extra butter.
10:39am, first pancake taking 2-3 minutes before flipping, even then, bottom not over-done:

10:40am, first pancake flipped again:

10:41am, first pancake done:

10:41am, second batch in pan:

10:43am, second batch flipped, browned much faster:

10:46am, second batch done:

10:46am, third batch in pan:

10:46am, third batch cooked 40 seconds:

10:47am, third batch flipped:

10:49am, second and third batch done:

10:52am, batch one brushed with syrup and cut:

10:53am, batch one interior:

Observations:
1. This time I am using a new can of baking powder, of the Rumford brand. The huge amount of bubbling is a surprise to me.
2. The pancakes are delicious!