Butter week has begun in Ukraine, and this is the best reason to pamper your family with delicious pancakes. Each housewife has her own “family” recipe for pancakes, proven over the years. But sometimes you want to surprise your family with something unexpected. These can be colored cakes, airy Moroccan flatbreads, healthy rye pancakes, and even vegan crepes with mineral water.
Why are pancakes baked on Shrovetide
The Slavs have been celebrating oil week since time immemorial. This holiday comes from paganism: for our ancestors Maslenitsa marked the beginning of the new year. The meeting of winter and spring was an important milestone, after which sowing began. During this period, it was necessary to "appease" the land so that the year was well-fed and fertile. All week, people baked pancakes, which were considered a symbol of the sun: the same round, golden and hot. They ate them themselves, treated them to guests, distributed them to the poor and carried them to their deceased ancestors. On the last day of Maslenitsa, an effigy of Maslenitsa was burned. Ashes were sprinkled on the ground to awaken it after winter and make it more generous.
Pancake symbolizes the sun: the more pancakes you eat on Shrovetide, the more you will be nourished with strength, warmth and solar energy.
Today Maslenitsa is celebrated before the beginning of Lent. And this is not at all a "feast of the stomach" to eat to the full. Shrovetide week for believers is considered the time of preparation for the main abstinence of the year. Therefore, it is also called Meat. This is the time when it is worth giving up meat in favor of fish and dairy products (cottage cheese, sour cream, butter, cheeses). From here, by the way, originates the main delicacy of Maslenitsa - pancakes with caviar.
Unusual pancake recipes
The filling can be anything, even a simple jam, even a seafood cocktail. The main thing for any housewife is to pancakes turned out to be successful. Therefore, every family has a favorite recipe for "sun circles", which can be slightly diversified in honor of the holiday.
Pancakes "Rainbow"
Multi-colored pancakes will delight children and adults
The simplest and at the same time the brightest recipe for the original pancakes. It is based on any of the traditional pancake recipes (milk, kefir, whey). Only natural ingredients are used as dyes, so such pancakes can be given even to small children.
Composition:
- 3 eggs
- 400 ml milk
- 250 g flour
- 1 tbsp Sahara,
- 1 tsp salt without a slide
- 3 tbsp. vegetable oil.
Green coloring: 50 grams of spinach leaves.
Pink color: 50 ml raw beet juice (one small beet)
Yellow dye: 1 tsp turmeric without a slide
Cooking method:
We prepare the dough according to the usual algorithm. Mix eggs, sugar, salt in a deep container. Shake everything with a whisk or fork. So that there are no lumps in the dough, first add a third of the milk volume, mix, and add flour. Knead thoroughly until smooth, then add the remaining milk. The dough turns out to be slightly thick, but do not forget that there are still dyes in the pancake recipe.
Green dye: wash the spinach leaves and grind them thoroughly in a blender, add chilled boiled water to get 100 ml of liquid.
Pink dye: three beets on a fine grater, squeeze through cheesecloth, add the same amount of water to 50 ml of juice to also get 100 ml of liquid
Yellow dye: mix turmeric with 100 ml of water.
Divide the dough into three parts, add to each colored liquid and mix thoroughly. Add 1 tbsp to each part. l. vegetable oil. Fry in a well-heated frying pan greased with butter or vegetable oil for frying. Put the finished pancakes on a plate, immediately greasing with butter
Pancakes "Zebra"
Pancake dough goes well with cocoa
Another variant of multi-colored pancakes that children will surely like and will not leave indifferent fans of chocolate baked goods. Pancakes Zebra goes well with any sweet fillings, or can act as an independent, tasty and picturesque dish.
Composition:
- 1 egg
- 250 ml milk
- 150 g flour
- 2 tbsp Sahara
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- a pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp cocoa or melted chocolate.
Cooking method:
The dough is kneaded as in the previous recipe. After kneading, divide the dough into two unequal parts, and add cocoa or chocolate to the smaller part. Mix thoroughly. First, pour the usual dough into a preheated pan, and quickly draw patterns from the chocolate mass on it. For drawing, you can use a pastry syringe, or you can carefully pour out the chocolate dough from a container with a "spout". Such pancakes are fried, as usual, on both sides. It is very nice to serve them with the filling, rolled into "striped" tubes.
Begrir Moroccan pancakes
Begrir pancakes are similar to pancakes and tortillas at the same time
A characteristic feature of these pancakes (they are also called pancake cakes) are large holes and an airy, porous structure. Due to this, they ideally "absorb" any filling and look elegant on the table.
Composition:
- 1.5 tbsp. decoys
- 3/4 Art. flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Sahara
- 2 tsp baking powder for dough
- 3 tbsp. warm water
- 1 tbsp dry yeast
Cooking method:
We combine dry ingredients in one container - flour, semolina, baking powder, salt and sugar. In the other, we mix water and yeast. We give the yeast a little "disperse" so that bubbles appear, and gradually add dry ingredients to the dough. Knead the smooth batter, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. Begrir is usually baked without oil - in a non-stick or, alternatively, in a cast-iron pan. You do not need to stir the dough before baking. For one pancake - one small ladle of dough. It turns out something between a pancake, pancake and flatbread. Begrir is considered ready when it is baked from bottom to top (only a couple of minutes is enough); you do not need to turn it over to maintain its light color and unusual porous surface.
Rye flour pancakes
Rye pancakes are hearty, nutritious and healthy
For adherents of a balanced nutrition rye leaflets are suitable - they turn out to be thin, fragrant and more satisfying than pancakes with wheat flour. The basis of rye flour is complex carbohydrates, which are slowly broken down and leave a feeling of fullness for a long time. And if you remember that rye contains a lot of useful vitamins and minerals, then a breakfast of such pancakes will become a real dish of champions.
Composition:
- 3 eggs
- 500 ml milk
- 250 g rye flour
- 1 tbsp Sahara
- 1/3 tbsp. vegetable oil
- a pinch of salt and soda.
Cooking method:
Beat eggs with sugar in a container for kneading dough, add vegetable oil and milk. Mix everything thoroughly. Gradually introduce rye flour, making sure that there are no lumps. The dough should turn out to be quite liquid (in consistency like jelly) - due to this, the pancakes are very thin. We fry the pancakes in a preheated frying pan greased with vegetable oil, turning over as soon as one side is slightly browned.
Lenten pancakes on mineral water
Lean pancakes can be as delicious as regular ones
Despite the fact that there is still a whole week before Lent, the recipe for lean pancakes can come in handy for those who refuse food of animal origin. Each hostess can take note of it to please loved ones with openwork pancakes after Maslenitsa.
Composition:
- 250 g wheat flour
- 2 tbsp. mineral water,
- 1 tbsp Sahara,
- 0.5 tsp salt,
- 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Cooking method:
In a deep container, mix dry ingredients - flour, sugar and salt. Add mineral water. It is better to use neutral mineral water, because salty or alkaline water will give the pancakes a specific flavor. It is important to open a bottle of water right before cooking, because it is the carbon dioxide that will make the pancakes really lacy. To avoid clumps, add mineral water in several steps. Then pour vegetable oil into the dough. We fry such pancakes, as usual, after preheating the pan and greasing it with vegetable oil.
It will also be interesting for you to read:
Shrovetide 2021: TOP-3 toppings for pancakes, from which you will be delighted
Shrovetide: all week for women
When is Lent in 2021: date and rules
