This year's Shrove Tuesday pancakes are Chinese New Year inspired since it's the first time in many years I've spent it at home with family.
We always have an abundance of mandarin oranges at home during the Chinese New Year period and I thought it would be nice to pair them with flavours like ginger and pistachio. While I've used ponkan (a variety of mandarin orange), you can use any other mandarin oranges you have at home. I find the ponkan easier to zest and it is sweeter, but do note that its zest can be slightly more bitter than other mandarin varieties.
Ponkan Ginger Pancakes
(Serves 3-4 people)
2 - Eggs
250ml - Whole milk
30g - Melted butter
A pinch of Salt
2 tbspn - Sugar
1/2 tspn - Ground ginger
4 - Zest of mandarin oranges
1/2 tspn - Orange essence (optional)
2 tspn - Baking Powder
1/2 tspn - Baking soda
250g - Plain flour
Plain yoghurt
Honey
Mandarin orange slices
Crushed pistachios
~ In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, melted butter, salt, sugar, zest and orange essence together.
~ In a large bowl, sift in the baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger and plain flour. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in your mixture. Whisk gently until all the flour is just incorporated. Over mixing can result in tough and rubbery pancakes.
~ Heat up a non-stick pan on medium heat and brush it with some butter. Pour some of the batter on to the pan. Bubbles will start to form and pop and when the top has begun to set and the bottom of the pancake is a nice golden brown, flip it over. Cook until both sides are brown.
~ Layer the pancakes with generous dollops of yoghurt, halved orange slices and a drizzle of honey. Finish with a handful of crushed pistachios.
