Often you want to eat the batter before baking or cooking – hold off! These are by far the tastiest banana pancakes I ever ate in my life! Cooked in a banana leaf they turn out best, but they also can be made without.
I have found this recipe when looking for different pancake recipes around the globe. Since I always wanted to cook with banana leaves, I decided to try this one out. I luck out in the way that bananas grow in my in-law’s garden, so sourcing them wasn’t very hard. As always I was warned to beware of the snakes, but they’ve left me alone :-). So lunch for me, but not for the snakes!
Banana leaves
If you’re not living in a tropical climate with bananas in your garden, you can still buy banana leaves frozen in Asian supermarkets. You probably also get them in Latin American supermarkets. I suggest to get banana leaves for this dish. If you do so, the batter cooks more evenly, staying at a softish consistency without a crust, which you most likely would get otherwise. Prepared inside the leaf, the pancake’s aroma is enhanced by the oils contained in the leaf and also by the smokeyness of the fried leaf. One large leaf was enough for six pancakes when I cut it.
You might think that using leaves for cooking saves you washing up after, and you’re right. Unfortunately though you have to wash them thoroughly beforehand unless you have very young leaves :-). You’d be surprised how much dust can be on them.
The batter
I was a bit unsure about butter in the recipe, if it’s meant to be used to grease the pan or if it is added to the batter. I then decided to add it to the batter, it turned out nicely.
While I made the batter using six bananas, as per the original recipe that I used, I halved it (that’s why it’s asking for half an egg :-)). With three bananas you achieve about 4 pancakes, maybe 5. They turn out thickish, I’d say 5mm thick and are quite filling compared to other pancakes due to the coconut and the bananas. Use ripe, best a bit overripe, bananas for this recipe, as you’ll need the intense aroma when cooking it.
My wife said, she would have enjoyed some fruit with it. I guess some cut pineapple would go along really well with it, but is not necessary. Eaten plain they are still very tasty!
Lempeng Pisang – A recipe for traditional Malaysian banana pancakes
Ingredients
- 120 g flour
- ½ egg beaten
- 3 bananas ripe
- 30 g sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 125 ml water
- 50 g coconut grated
- 125 ml coconut milk
- 50 g butter melted
- oil
- banana leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Cut or prepare your banana leaves. The size of each piece should be about as wide as your pan and twice the length.
- Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the flour, egg, sugar, salt and water and mix it well.
- Add melted butter, the grated coconut and coconut milk and mix the batter.
- Heat a pan on medium heat and add a bit of oil so that the pan is lightly covered.
- Place a banana leaf in the pan with one half inside the pan, on which you place one ladle of batter.
- Fold the leaf over the battered half and fry it for 2-3 minutes.
- Then flip the whole parcel over and continue to fry it until the banana leaf crispens and the dough is cooked through.
Please rate my recipe before you leave 🙂:
The recipe used is from Dato’ Ismail Ahmad, a well known Malaysian chef, posted by Jackie M, slightly adapted for quantities and cooking steps. Cooked with love on From zero to curry.
