Green Curry Pancakes
The following recipe is an excerpt from Cook Like a Local
Serves 4
You can keep your green eggs and ham; I’ll take green pancakes.
Well, these aren’t actually green in color, but green curry is the key. My favorite flavors and ingredients to cook with are often deeply savory and umami rich, so they don’t usually overlap with the dessert menu. But this recipe is an exception. Our pastry chef, Victoria Dearmond, dreamt this up after we’d made a big batch of green curry paste (a rewarding, challenging, laborious, time-consuming process that I recommend only if you enjoy challenging, laborious, time-consuming processes). I never would have imagined a curry-based sweet dish, but somehow this one just works, with the tang of yogurt, crunch of peanuts, and a sweet-savory syrup. One note: Every component of this dish is important to making it all work together. If you leave one out, the intensity of the other flavors will bully one another. Together, they all play nicely. Serve this for an impressive brunch or an unexpected dessert.
Ingredients
For the Syrup
½ cup sweet soy sauce
¼ cup honey
For the Lime Yogurt
1 cup Greek yogurt
Grated zest of 2 limes
For the Pancakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ to ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup green curry paste
1 (5.5-ounce) can coconut milk
1½ cups milk
3 large eggs
⅓ cup melted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup roughly chopped candied or honey-roasted peanuts
Serves 4
You can keep your green eggs and ham; I’ll take green pancakes.
Well, these aren’t actually green in color, but green curry is the key. My favorite flavors and ingredients to cook with are often deeply savory and umami rich, so they don’t usually overlap with the dessert menu. But this recipe is an exception. Our pastry chef, Victoria Dearmond, dreamt this up after we’d made a big batch of green curry paste (a rewarding, challenging, laborious, time-consuming process that I recommend only if you enjoy challenging, laborious, time-consuming processes). I never would have imagined a curry-based sweet dish, but somehow this one just works, with the tang of yogurt, crunch of peanuts, and a sweet-savory syrup. One note: Every component of this dish is important to making it all work together. If you leave one out, the intensity of the other flavors will bully one another. Together, they all play nicely. Serve this for an impressive brunch or an unexpected dessert.
Step 1
For the syrup: In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the sweet soy sauce and honey and combine. Keep warm.
Step 2
For the yogurt: In a small bowl, stir the yogurt and lime zest together until combined.
Step 3
For the pancakes: Preheat the oven to warm.
Step 4
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. In a small bowl, whisk the curry paste into the coconut milk, then whisk in the milk. Whisk in the eggs and butter. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, using a spatula to mix until just combined (do not overmix; a few lumps are okay).
Step 5
Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add enough butter to coat the pan (about 1 tablespoon should do it) and then ladle in your batter, taking care to leave enough room between pancake — ½ cup of batter makes small “silver dollar”–size pancakes; cup of batter makes a standard–size pancake.
