my pancake days, and blueberry nights

This date has been marked in my diary for ages. Quite funnily, I mentioned to my parents tonight that it was pancake day the next morning, and they were rather baffled by the entire concept. I guess it’s true, no one really celebrates Shrove Tuesday in Hong Kong – I for one never heard of the whole concept until I moved to London, when my uni flatmates enlightened me and we celebrated with a feast of pancakes (which effectively replaced our dinner).

This year I won’t be making pancakes, simply because I again don’t have the ingredients, as simple as they are, and don’t feel like buying them for a one-off breakfast. Also, I have far more tasty things to eat – like my mom’s Chinese New Year turnip cake, which we made together today (more on that later!). But I love pancake day and thought I’d dedicate a post to it anyway, digging up lots of pancake photos from my flickr history. Also it’s a good time to mention Nigella’s wonderful time-saving pancake mix, as well as her blueberry syrup recipe which is absolutely gorgeous. And if you’re unlucky to get a batch of underripe, sour blueberries, this is the perfect way to make use of them (ah, for they have not died in vain!).

Nigella’s pancake mix
600g/1lb 5oz plain flour
3 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
40g/2½oz caster sugar

& for every 150g/5¼oz dry mixture you’ll need
1 medium free-range egg, lightly beaten
250ml/9fl oz milk
1 tbsp melted butter

Making pancakes is so logical, so I’ll save the patronising ‘this is how you make pancakes!’ drole. BLUEBERRY SYRUP TIME! I tried this for the first time two months ago and it came out really well, and it’s pretty much foolproof. I like it much better than mixing blueberries into the pancake batter (which don’t turn out well, as you can see in the photo above… scary!) to get awesome blueberry pancakes. And, as Nigella says, maple syrup and blueberries are both so good for you – so it’s a guiltfree sugar high!

All you need really is 150ml maple syrup and 200g blueberries (fresh or frozen are both fine), bung it all into a small saucepan and bring it to the boil and then let it simmer, crushing the berries as you go. Reduce until it’s a great big gloopy, dark purple syrup. You can serve it right away with your pancakes, but I personally thought it tasted better after a stint in the fridge, and it goes a bit jammy – cold, blueberry syrup on hot buttered pancakes. What better thing to have for breakfast? (Except for maguro-don, but that’s a whole different can of sardines…)

As for the blueberry ‘nights’, I attempted to make a spinoff of that glorious Scottish dessert, cranachan, by using blueberries instead of raspberries. I had it for the first time last September when we visited a wonderful Scottish family, and couldn’t forget that wonderful taste – the crunchy toasted pinhead oats (which I cannot for the life of me find in London – can anyone help?), the soft, vanilla-y whiskey infused cream, and the juicy, sweet raspberries. Guuhhh. Taste sensation or what. I’m sad to say my blueberry concoction was a far cry from Liz’s cranachan, obviously not helped by the lack of whiskey in our cabinet, but I’ll try again. I did, however, try to replicate the slightly heady aroma of alcohol by macerating the berries in very strong earl grey tea (I know, when will I stop the tea obsession?) – I have to say, it worked quite well!