Whip up a little mango magic
|Published
Durban — A thin, pale yellow crêpe wrapped around cream and fresh mango. What could be better on a hot summer day?
RecipeTin Eats blogger Nagi says this is the best way to use the delicious juicy fruits.
If this is your first time making crepes allow for some crêpe-learning casualties (hence 9 to 12 pancakes). Even better, just double the batter so you have plenty to practise with and eat leftovers later.
WHAT YOU NEED
The pancake (crêpe):
1 cup full fat milk
1/3 cup plain all-purpose flour
½ cup cornflour/cornstarch
¼ cup icing sugar
3 large eggs (55-60g)
¼ tsp yellow food colouring for the mango-yellow glow
Canola oil spray
2 large ripe and juicy mangoes, skin peeled with a knife and cut into 10 to 12 pieces. Cut a thin slice off the base so you can stand it upright. Then cut the skin off thinly, using a sharp knife. Cut each “cheek” off, then trim to 7cm x 2.5cm x1cm.
For the cream
¾ cup thickened/heavy cream, fridge cold
3 tbs icing sugar, sifted
½ tsp vanilla extract
HOW TO MAKE IT
Pancake
Batter: Place the milk in a bowl. Sift the flour, cornflour and icing sugar in the milk, then whisk until lump free. Add the eggs and food colouring. Whisk until combined. It will be a very thin, watery batter.
Refrigerate for 1 hour. Don’t skip this step because during the resting time, the flour absorbs liquid which makes the crêpe softer so you can roll the crêpes without them cracking. Also, the batter thickens slightly to the right consistency for cooking.
Measure the batter – give the batter a mix (to stir in the flour settled at bottom) then measure out 45ml of crêpe batter.
Non-stick pan: Use an 18cm nonstick pan. Spray lightly with oil, then heat over a medium low stove. If your pan is bigger or smaller, adjust the crêpe batter quantity as necessary.
Cook pancake: Pour the batter into the middle – it should sizzle lightly – then swirl to cover the base in a thin layer. Cook for 45 seconds to 1 minute or until the middle is set to touch. About halfway through cooking, start loosening the edges with a rubber spatula to ensure it flips out easily. Do not flip in the pan. We cook only one side of the crêpes.
The top side that is not in contact with the pan will be the presentation side of the mango pancake. This is the side you want to put the cream on – so it is on the inside of the pancake, and the outside is the nice smooth surface.
Flip the crêpe upside down onto a large cutting board. Make sure the surface is set and the underside has no golden patches. Adjust the heat as needed.
Cook more! Spray the pan with oil, then continue cooking the pancakes. You can flip them out on top of each other.
Cook the crêpes for 1 hour before using.
ASSEMBLING
Cream: Just before assembling, place the cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a cold bowl and beat until stiff (about 2 minutes on speed 8 of a 10 speed hand mixer).
Filling: Place a crêpe on a work surface so the side that was in contact with the pan is facing up. Spread 1cm thick layer of cream a third of the way up the pancake, in the shape of a piece of mango. Top with mango.
Roll, burrito style (watch the video at recipetineats.com/mango-pancakes/), ending with the seam-side down. Repeat with remaining pancakes.
Serve immediately. Mango pancakes wait for no one (due to the cream).
Independent on Saturday