Japanese pancakes EN

 I made Japanese pancakes for the first time very recently when we welcomed my nephew Thalis to our home. When Thalis comes he always asks me for crepes for breakfast, but this time we surprised him and offered him these very fluffy pancakes and he liked them a lot. He even asked me to write the recipe on the blog so he could have it too!

They are very easy to make as long as we pay attention to the meringue mixture.

They should be consumed immediately because they deflate very quickly like soufflés.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

65gr whole milk

A pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

95gr all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

85gr sugar

4 tablespoons sunflower oil

Some water

Fruits of our choice (bananas, strawberries, blueberries)

Maple syrup, agave syrup or honey

Powdered sugar

Separate the eggs and keep the egg whites in the refrigerator to cool.

Add the milk, vanilla, and salt to the yolks and mix. Add the baking powder to the flour. Sift the flour into the yolk mixture. Stir slightly. We just want the ingredients to mix,  not activate the gluten.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar or the lemon juice with a mixer until a meringue is formed. Add the sugar in 2-3 parts and continue beating until you obtain a slightly firm meringue. We don't want our meringue to be too firm because it won't mix easily with the rest of the pancake mixture.

Mix 2-3 tablespoons of the meringue with the yolk and flour mixture. After the mixture softens a bit, add the rest of the meringue and mix carefully this time and in an upward motion so as not to deflate the meringue.

Heat a large nonstick pan with a lid over medium heat.

With a brush, spread some oil on the pan and put about 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake. I prefer to bake 1, at most 2 pancakes at a time so I can handle them better. Put the lid on and cook for 2'.

Add another tablespoon of batter on top of each pancake, pour approximately 2 tablespoons of water into the pan, close with the lid and cook for 1' more. Flip the pancakes with a spatula, add some water again and cook for 2-3'.

Serve immediately because they deflate quickly.

We can top them with fruit and maple syrup or powdered sugar.