Cooking Experiments 1: Yam Pancakes
I figure I'll start a series of posts journaling my experiments with cooking.
Here is the first of what will presumably be many, (if I remember). (I apologize for lack of photo...I didn't really think of this until after I had eaten everything.)
(I will note: The Boyfriend feels that when, in the distant future, I become pregnant, he fears what my cravings will be, because he thinks I have a weird taste in food....sometimes, I can't argue - I did put cinnamon and sugar on my perogies the other day, after all.)
Today I had a craving for Okonomiyaki. I didn't have the right ingredients (cabbage, dashi, furikake, bonito flakes, etc). However, I did have yams, and flour, and lots of eggs.
I love yam fries, don't get me wrong, but eventually you have to mix it up a little bit.
Sooooo, with lack of a grater (no idea where that went), a big cup of rum-hot chocolate, and a sharp knife, and a few looks at recipes for sweet potato pancakes (which all call for onions, yuck), I started 'er up.
Amy's Sweet Yam Pancakes
I used:
1 medium sized yam
4 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons* Flour
1 dollop* of rice milk
2 teaspoons* of sugar
a dash* of cinnamon
and a teaspoon* of vanilla
margarine (or oil)
a couple dashes* of salt
1 Mixing bowl
1 plate
Something for beating batter.
Makes 2, dinner-plate-sized pancakes
* - When I say tablespoon, teaspoon, etc, it's really an approximation - I used a spoon for the table (tablespoon=soup spoon?), the tea spoon in the sugar bowl (teaspoon = small spoon), and a dash was basically how much came out of the shaker when I shook it once. A "Dollop" was the amount I felt I needed, and has no real world measurements, it wasn't alot though.
When I experiment, I don't normally use measuring spoons - I generally go with what looks and feels right. Intuition.
1. So, I started with the yam. Since I had no grater, I very carefully sliced the yam up as thin as I dared without cutting my fingers off. Not as thin as I would have gotten with the grater (which suited me just fine, turned out very well.) I put my thinly sliced up yam onto my plate.
2. Once I had the whole yam sliced up (it took approximately one episode of Mythbusters), I mixed up the batter. First I cracked 4 eggs into a bowl. Then I dumped 1 tablespoon of flour into the eggs and (slowly) started to mix it into the eggs. Once I had mixed it in a little better, I beat it until the yolks were well beaten. The flour didn't completely dissolve like I wanted it to, but I figured it was because I used a fork, not an egg beater. Next I added my dollop of rice milk (I'm allergic to milk, so feel free to use your own alternative...I suggest cow/goats milk, almond milk, or soy milk - rice isn't as thick as those three), sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, and mixed it in. I then slowly mixed in the last 1.5 tablespoons of flour.
I tried to get the bits of flour as small as possible, and made sure not of them were popping into dry flour before I stopped my mixing.
3. Next I heated up my frying pan (a non stick one, I don't know if that makes any difference.), I set it to just under medium heat. Just in between quarter heat and half heat.)
Now, this might seem fattening and gross to some...or, if you were raised like me, it might seem perfectly normal. Either way, feel free to use something else. I used margarine. You can use butter, or any sort of oil - whatever suits you.)
Anyways, I melted a good amount of margarine in my frying pan, and added salt to it. Not a lot, just a fine sprinkling in the bottom of the pan.
4. Next I tossed approximately half of my sliced up yam into the pan, and let them cook for about 15 minutes, covered, stirring it a few times with my spatula, until it was slightly browned.
5. Once slightly browned, I added my batter mix. I let it cook, uncovered, for about 1.5 minutes. I used my spatula to lift the edges to see when the underside was cooked enough, and then (very carefully) flipped it over to cook the other side for about 1.5 more minutes. (You can cook it longer, if you feel the need, or less...depending on the heat of your frying pan....it should only get lightly browned at max.)
6. Repeat 4 & 5 for the second pancake.
7. To eat, I chose to melt margarine on my pancake, and sprinkle an unhealthy (read: not a small amount) amount of sugar on top.
Things I would do differently next time:
I would use either soy or almond milk.
I would mix the flour with the milk first, and add the eggs after.
I would also use 3 eggs instead of 4, which I feel would create a higher yam ratio to the batter. More yam = better.
I chose to use sugar, vanilla and cinnamon as my flavorings to create a sweeter experience (yams are naturally sweet, so this just boosts the sweetness) - I'm certain more savory herbs and spices would be just as good. In the past, I've used paprika and curry to spice my yam fries, so it would be equally good in a yam pancake I'm sure.
Overall rating: - AWESOME!
Recipe followed: None. Used various potato pancake recipes for a guideline, but in general used my own intuition and personal tastes to create my masterpiece.
Next time: Maybe okonomiyaki?
Here is the first of what will presumably be many, (if I remember). (I apologize for lack of photo...I didn't really think of this until after I had eaten everything.)
(I will note: The Boyfriend feels that when, in the distant future, I become pregnant, he fears what my cravings will be, because he thinks I have a weird taste in food....sometimes, I can't argue - I did put cinnamon and sugar on my perogies the other day, after all.)
Today I had a craving for Okonomiyaki. I didn't have the right ingredients (cabbage, dashi, furikake, bonito flakes, etc). However, I did have yams, and flour, and lots of eggs.
I love yam fries, don't get me wrong, but eventually you have to mix it up a little bit.
Sooooo, with lack of a grater (no idea where that went), a big cup of rum-hot chocolate, and a sharp knife, and a few looks at recipes for sweet potato pancakes (which all call for onions, yuck), I started 'er up.
Amy's Sweet Yam Pancakes
I used:
1 medium sized yam
4 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons* Flour
1 dollop* of rice milk
2 teaspoons* of sugar
a dash* of cinnamon
and a teaspoon* of vanilla
margarine (or oil)
a couple dashes* of salt
1 Mixing bowl
1 plate
Something for beating batter.
Makes 2, dinner-plate-sized pancakes
* - When I say tablespoon, teaspoon, etc, it's really an approximation - I used a spoon for the table (tablespoon=soup spoon?), the tea spoon in the sugar bowl (teaspoon = small spoon), and a dash was basically how much came out of the shaker when I shook it once. A "Dollop" was the amount I felt I needed, and has no real world measurements, it wasn't alot though.
When I experiment, I don't normally use measuring spoons - I generally go with what looks and feels right. Intuition.
1. So, I started with the yam. Since I had no grater, I very carefully sliced the yam up as thin as I dared without cutting my fingers off. Not as thin as I would have gotten with the grater (which suited me just fine, turned out very well.) I put my thinly sliced up yam onto my plate.
2. Once I had the whole yam sliced up (it took approximately one episode of Mythbusters), I mixed up the batter. First I cracked 4 eggs into a bowl. Then I dumped 1 tablespoon of flour into the eggs and (slowly) started to mix it into the eggs. Once I had mixed it in a little better, I beat it until the yolks were well beaten. The flour didn't completely dissolve like I wanted it to, but I figured it was because I used a fork, not an egg beater. Next I added my dollop of rice milk (I'm allergic to milk, so feel free to use your own alternative...I suggest cow/goats milk, almond milk, or soy milk - rice isn't as thick as those three), sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, and mixed it in. I then slowly mixed in the last 1.5 tablespoons of flour.
I tried to get the bits of flour as small as possible, and made sure not of them were popping into dry flour before I stopped my mixing.
3. Next I heated up my frying pan (a non stick one, I don't know if that makes any difference.), I set it to just under medium heat. Just in between quarter heat and half heat.)
Now, this might seem fattening and gross to some...or, if you were raised like me, it might seem perfectly normal. Either way, feel free to use something else. I used margarine. You can use butter, or any sort of oil - whatever suits you.)
Anyways, I melted a good amount of margarine in my frying pan, and added salt to it. Not a lot, just a fine sprinkling in the bottom of the pan.
4. Next I tossed approximately half of my sliced up yam into the pan, and let them cook for about 15 minutes, covered, stirring it a few times with my spatula, until it was slightly browned.
5. Once slightly browned, I added my batter mix. I let it cook, uncovered, for about 1.5 minutes. I used my spatula to lift the edges to see when the underside was cooked enough, and then (very carefully) flipped it over to cook the other side for about 1.5 more minutes. (You can cook it longer, if you feel the need, or less...depending on the heat of your frying pan....it should only get lightly browned at max.)
6. Repeat 4 & 5 for the second pancake.
7. To eat, I chose to melt margarine on my pancake, and sprinkle an unhealthy (read: not a small amount) amount of sugar on top.
Things I would do differently next time:
I would use either soy or almond milk.
I would mix the flour with the milk first, and add the eggs after.
I would also use 3 eggs instead of 4, which I feel would create a higher yam ratio to the batter. More yam = better.
I chose to use sugar, vanilla and cinnamon as my flavorings to create a sweeter experience (yams are naturally sweet, so this just boosts the sweetness) - I'm certain more savory herbs and spices would be just as good. In the past, I've used paprika and curry to spice my yam fries, so it would be equally good in a yam pancake I'm sure.
Overall rating: - AWESOME!
Recipe followed: None. Used various potato pancake recipes for a guideline, but in general used my own intuition and personal tastes to create my masterpiece.
Next time: Maybe okonomiyaki?