GET OUT OF BORING FOOD CYCLE...
There is no regular pancake recipe. Pancakes have different texture, size, flavor and shapes depending on the part world you're at. Nigerians have adapted pancakes to suit the local taste by adding ingredients like onion, pepper and sometimes spices. I will show you how to make delicious Nigerian pancakes in this blog post.
Home-made pancakes take a bit longer to make but beat the store-bought pancake mix. This Nigerian pancake recipe takes it up a notch, and best of all, it is customizable – you can adapt the recipe according to your preference.
Nigerian pancakes are popularly eaten at breakfast like most parts of the world but can be eaten at any time of the day. These delicious pancakes are sweet and savoury at the same time, making an excellent base for sweet or savoury filling, depending on preference. The Nigerian-style pancakes have a unique texture; they are thicker than a crepe but not fluffy like American pancakes.
Nigerian Pancake Recipe
Here are the ingredients you need...
Onion
Scotch bonnet pepper
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Salt
Sugar
Cinnamon
Milk
Butter (Melted)
Egg
Oil for frying
A few notes about the ingredients...
- Vegetarian? To make the recipe suitable for a vegetarian, you can substitute the milk with water and butter with vegetable oil.
- Onion and pepper: You need onions and peppers for this local pancake, but these must be chopped very thinly, so you're not biting into big pieces in the pancake. I prefer to cook the onions and peppers before adding them to the pancake batter as I'm not a fan of raw onions. I also find that pre-cooking the onion adds a depth of flavour to the pancake. If you prefer, add the onion and pepper straight into the batter before frying.
- Spices: Cinnamon is a spice which works well with both sweet and savoury, hence why it works for this recipe. Nutmeg is another good spice for sweet and savoury flavours and works well in the Nigerian pancake.
How To Make it
Peel and chop the onions very thinly. Remove the stalk from the scotch bonnet pepper and chop thinly too.
Add the plain flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon into a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon or whisk to get rid of big lumps.
Pour melted butter into a separate mixing bowl. Break the eggs into this bowl and add the milk. Whisk thoroughly until bubbles start to form.
Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl containing the wet ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth, with a slightly runny consistency. Don't over mix the batter, as this will lead to tough pancakes. If there are lumps in the batter, don't worry; it will cook evenly.
Place a non-stick frying pan on the hob under medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan.
Pour the minced onions and peppers into the pan and stir with a spatula for a few minutes. Remove from the pan when the onions start to brown and allow to cool before adding into the batter.
Wash the pan and place back on the hob. Dip a brush or kitchen paper in a little oil to lightly grease the base. The oil should only coat the surface of the pan as we do not want to fry the pancakes.
Scoop the batter into the pan and swirl to spread evenly. When the edge of the pancake starts to brown, and you can see bubbles on the surfaces, gently lift with a spatula to flip.
Allow the other side to brown lightly too.
Repeat this process until the remaining pancake batter is used up. Then, serve the pancakes warm with your favourite filling.
Filling Ideas
Due to their sweet and savoury taste, Nigerian pancakes work well with sweet and savoury fillings or toppings, depending on preference. Here are some filling/topping ideas for this delicious pancake.
Savoury Fillings
- Fried eggs
- Scrambled eggs
- Smoked salmon or mackerel
- Ata dindin (Fried stew)
Sweet Fillings
- Fresh fruits
- Butter and maple syrup
- Lemon and sugar
- Nutella
- Peanut butter
Related Recipes
Other Nigerian recipes to try;
Nigerian Pancake Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ Onion small
- 1 Scotch bonnet pepper
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 4 tablespoons Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 3 cups Milk
- 2 tablespoons Melted Butter
- 2 Eggs
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Peel and chop the onions very thinly. Remove the stalk from the scotch bonnet pepper and chop thinly too.
- Add the plain flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or whisk.
- Pour melted butter into a separate mixing bowl. Break the eggs into this bowl and add the milk. Whisk thoroughly until bubbles start to form.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl containing the wet ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth, with a slightly runny consistency.
- Place a non-stick frying pan on the hob under medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan.
- Pour the minced onion and peppers into the pan and stir with a spatula for a few minutes. Remove from the pan when the onion starts to brown. Allow to cool, then pour into the batter.
- Wash the pan and place back on the hob. Dip a brush or kitchen paper in a little oil to lightly grease the base.
- Scoop the batter into the pan and swirl to spread evenly. When the edge of the pancake starts to brown, and you can see bubbles on the surfaces, gently lift with a spatula to flip and allow the other side to brown lightly too.
- Repeat this process until the remaining pancake batter is used up.
Mama Z
This was very good recipe. Stir-frying the onions and scotch bonnet first, before mixing into the batter, made all the difference! Brought back childhood memories of “diet”. The only adjustment I made was using about 2/3 of the milk because I liked the consistency of the batter. Thank you!