Traditional East Indian Pancake Recipe

Pancake Tuesday is just around the corner, and my friends have already called dibs on my mom’s pancake recipe. It’s the recipe she got from granny but tweaked a bit, and it’s perfect!

Anyways, East Indians celebrate pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras with pancakes. They’re a bit different from chocolate pancakes which are yummy too.

What’s different about East Indian pancakes?

These traditional East Indian pancakes are absolutely yummy and lush light crepe styled pancakes filled with a dense rich coconut stuffing. But you already know they taste awesome, else you wouldn’t be searching for the East Indian pancake recipe, right? (If you don’t know what East Indians are, click this link for more information.)

So lets get straight to it. Here’s how to make delicious East Indian Pancakes right in your home.

By the way, if you’re in a hurry, my friend Evelyne makes some awesome Finnish pancakes with blueberries that look just like a tantalising pizza. Something that must be tried!

Recipe for Traditional East Indian Pancakes with coconut filling

You’ll need to grate one fresh coconut. If you can’t find fresh coconuts, you can use about 200 grams of desiccated coconut powder, but fresh usually tastes better. Along with this you need about 100 grams of almonds, cashewnuts and kismis aka raisins.

Chop the raisins in half and the cashewnuts and almonds to similar sized pieces.

Add about 200 gms ground sugar aka powdered sugar, half a cup of water, 1 wine glass of rose water and the coconut to a vessel and mix well on a low flame.

After a few minutes add in the grated nuts and raisins, along with a
few drops of vanilla essence and continue to stir till quite dry. Take off the flame and set aside. (One of my aunts also adds condensed milk to this mixture, making the sweet East Indian pancakes super rich, and it tastes heavenly, but that’s a bit too sweet for us.)

In a mixing bowl, add 300 grams maida aka fine wheat flour, 3 small eggs, 100 ml milk, quarter teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons sugar and beat all the ingredients together till light and fluffy.

Once the batter is ready, add in a few drops of vanilla and beat for a minute.

Separate the batter into 4 or 5 smaller vessels and add different colors. We used to use lighter colours for our cakes and desserts, just white and pink like granny loved them; but now that granny’s enjoying her pancakes in heaven we have started going brighter and bolder with colours.

Chop an onion into half, stick a fork in it, and use it as an oil rub for a small frying pan. (Around 12 inches wide.) Add a spoonful of batter to the frying pan and fry till it looks cooked. They look a bit like the crepes in France.

Smear oil onto a few thalis (Indian steel plates) or a board with the onion rub and keep ready. Flip the pancake over onto the thalior board.

Spoon a bit of the coconut filling onto one end of the pancake and fold it in to form a roll.

And finally we have our pancakes ready to be served. Since we make dozens of pancakes at a time, we usually work in twos to make these pancakes, one person frying and one person rolling. 

Lush, aren’t they? Have you tried this recipe? Comment and let me know what you liked and what you did differently.

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Traditional East Indian Pancakes

East Indians make sweet pancakes with a coconut filling for Shrove Tuesday. This recipe is the traditional one used by my grandmother and tweaked a little bit.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time2 hrs

Total Time2 hrs 15 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: East Indian

Author: Abby

Ingredients

Coconut Filling

• 1 Grated coconut Equivalent to 200 gms desiccated coconut
• 200 g Sugar
• 100 g Almonds
• 100 g Cashewnuts
• 100 g Raisins Kismis
• .5 cup Water
• 30 ml Rose Waer
• 3 drops Vanilla Essence

Pancake Batter

• 300 g Fine wheat flour Maida
• 100 ml Milk
• 200 ml Water Add more if required
• .25 tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 5 drops Vanilla Essence
• 10 drops Food Colour Different colours

Instructions

For the Coconut Filling

• Grate one fresh coconut. If fresh coconuts are not available, use 200 grams of desiccated coconut powder.
• Chop the raisins in half and the cashewnuts and almonds to similar sized pieces and set aside.
• Add the powdered sugar, half cup owater, rose water and the coconut to a vessel and mix well on a low flame.
• After a few minutes add in the grated nuts and raisins, along with a few drops of vanilla essence and continue to stir till quite dry. Take off the flame and set aside.

Making the Pancake

• In a mixing bowl, beat the flour, eggs, milk, water, sugar and salt till light and fluffy.
• Add in a few drops of vanilla essence or extract and beat for a minute.
• Separate the batter into 4 or 5 smaller vessels and add different colors as desired.
• Chop an onion into half, and use it as an oil rub for a small frying pan. (Around 12 inches wide.) 
  
• Add a spoonful of batter to the frying pan and fry till it looks cooked. 
• Flip it over onto a greased board.
• Spoon the coconut filling on one side of the pancake before rolling it. And that’s it! Onto the next one.

Notes

The cook time depends on the amount of batter you prepare.

Since we make dozens at a time, we usually work in twos to make these pancakes, one person frying and one person rolling.