Middle Eastern Pancakes with Dates

These pancakes are a bit different than usual as I decided to give them a Middle Eastern/Arabic touch by adding ingredients such as rose water, orange blossom water and also sweet spices such as aniseed and cardamom. I made these for breakfast, they were very filling and very very tasty and as an accompaniment I stewed some dates which added a lot of sweetness. Give them a go, they are a different delicious take on the classic pancakes. For 4-6 pancakes you will need...

• 1 cup (about 125 g) plain flour
• 1 cup (about 235 ml) whole milk
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• Pinch of salt
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp orange blossom water
• ½ tsp rose water
• ¼ tsp ground aniseed
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• 100g chopped dates
• 2 tbsp water
• Small knob of butter

How to...

1. In a large bowl put all ingredients apart from the dates & 2 tbsp water and mix well until you get a smooth batter.
2. Grease a non stick pan with a knob of butter and spread across the pan with a piece of kitchen towel.
3. Heat up the pan on a medium heat until well hot, drain any excess butter.
4. Always on a medium heat, ladle the batter into the pan and leave to cook until the pancake starts producing bubbles on top. When the surface is bubbly and pancake looks set, flip the pancake and cook for a couple of seconds. Repeat until all batter is used.
5. Keep pancakes warm and in the meantime, prepare the dates by adding the dates and 2 tablespoons of water to the same pancake pan and warm enough until dates are soft and mushy.
6. Spoon the date mixture on the piled pancakes and serve warm!!

Enjoy!!

R&A