Blueberry Morning

It's yet another blueberry morning. This time, I made blueberry pancakes for a late breakfast on a Saturday morning.

My younger boy woke up around the same time as me, and as usual, he offered to help me with the preparation of the pancake batter, while the other two family members were still reluctant to leave their 'sleeping clubs'.

Making the pancake batter is not very much different from making muffins. Nothing too complicated that my seven-year-old cannot handle. He cracked and beat the egg while I measured out the ingredients. Then he got to sieve the flour mixture (one of his favourite tasks), while I get ready the rest of the wet ingredients. I handed the ingredients one by one to my sous chef as he mixed it all up in a bowl. Then it was the grand finale of pouring all the liquid mixture (I couldn't help but to agree with him that the mixture did look terribly awful at this stage) to the dry mixture and with only a few quick stir it was done.

After cleaning up the mess, I was left alone to cook the pancakes. I got lazy this time and didn't bother to brush the frying pan with melted butter. I thought it was really not necessary...what difference would it made? So I took the short cut by pouring some vegetable oil into the pan and simply swirl it around. The cooked pancakes didn't turn out as well compared to those I made on my maiden attempt, the surface was not evenly browned. It could also due to the temperature of my pan...I am just bad at anything that has got to do with the stove! The resulting pancakes looked more like roti pratas to me! 囧

Despite the appearance, these pancakes were actually very delicious, especially with the homemade blueberry sauce which I made the night before. The pancakes were quite light and fluffy, but I would prefer a slightly thicker sauce. Maybe I didn't cook it long enough, or there was just too much water...even though I have already reduced the amount. I do like the hint of tangy flavour of the sauce though, and it was not overly sweet. My family members are a forgiving lot...they enjoyed the pancakes and there wasn't a single word of complaints. Even my tween who doesn't really care for pancakes was nodding with approval over his breakfast.

That night, my boys and I curled up in front of the tv to watch our current favourite Korean drama: Boys over Flowers (花样男子). I was watching with great envy when Ji Hoo (智厚) made some pancakes for Jan Di (丝草). He has finally perfected his pancakes. In the very 1st episode of this drama, Ji Hoo has asked Jan Di if she knows how to make hotcakes. She told him they were made with some flour and eggs, add milk and sugar. In the 2nd episode, he asked her if anything else was left out because his pancakes didn't rise. She told him he needs to add baking powder. I also found it amusing when he added that pancake premixes are actually available. Hmmm...I am not sure whether he used a pancake premix or the pancakes were made from scratch. But his pancakes looked perfect and delicious....urghmm...just before they were drenched with lots of maple syrup! ^^"'




Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce


Ingredients
(makes about 8 pancakes)

for the pancakes:
125g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
60ml (1/4 cup) blueberry yoghurt
180ml (3/4 cup) fresh milk
2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh blueberries


for the blueberry sauce
1 cup fresh blueberries
3/4 cup (180ml) water (original recipe uses 1 cup)
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon (optional)
1 tablespoon cornstarch mix with 1 tablespoon water

Method:

To make blueberry sauce:
Place blueberries, water, sugar, salt, lemon zest (if using) and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Let the mixture continues to boil for another 5 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture and continue to boil till the mixture thickens. Set aside to cool, cover and refrigerate.

To make pancakes:
Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Toss in the blueberries. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, sugar, yoghurt, milk, oil and vanilla extract. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture, all at once. With a manual whisk, whisk the mixture until just combined (when the flour 'disappears'). The batter may have some small lumps but Do Not over mix the batter or the pancakes will be tough.

Heat a frying pan over medium to low heat. Using a pastry brush, brush the pan with a little melted butter or oil. Pour about 1/4 cup of pancake batter onto the pan. When bubbles start to appear on the top surfaces of the pancakes (2-3 minutes) and the bottom is brown, turn it over. Cook until lightly browned (about 1-2 minutes). Repeat with remaining batter, brushing the pan with melted butter or oil between batches. Serve immediately with blueberry sauce.

Recipe source: adapted from 懒人也会做面包