My brother celebrated his birthday sometime in late January. And since I’d only given him a birthday wish phone call, which is probably the least I’ve given him all these years, I thought of dedicating this recipe to him. This is my brother’s favorite dish. He can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner - let’s make the ‘or’ an ’and’ -  everyday and will not tire of it. I believe, if there were no other food but just this, he will probably not notice that there was a major food shortage :p OR if there was nothing else to eat except a lone banana tree, he would be content! Besides my brother, my son loves it too. It’s one dish he will gladly say “Is it time to eat already?” without me having to call him to the table. But this post is not about my son. That will come another day.

I assume that this dish has its variations in different parts of the world and called by different names - like crepes, or lempeng - if you’re interested in the variations, I’d suggest Googling it. But this is my late grandma’s recipe.  My Grandma’s Malbari/Malyalam and I’m wondering if there’s really such a recipe in India or did she create her own. But whether it exists only in my family or not, it’s probably one of the most filling dessert-like main dish that I’ve eaten and one is never enough!

So here goes b’day boy…a super happy B’day to you. Wish I could make some and DHL it over.

Ingredients:
10 oz flour
1 egg
3 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
bananas - Baby ninos (pisang emas) is the best
ghee/clarified butter - as required
sugar for sprinkling/ honey
raisins for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. In a pot, combine egg, flour, salt and water. Whisk until smooth. (Alternatively, you can blend it in a blender and strain)
2. Heat a non-stick pan add a small dot of ghee on it and spread it around.
3. On medium heat, place a ladle full of the batter into the pan, and with the base of the ladle, spread the batter in a circular motion outwards.






 

4. Dot the top of the batter with ghee. When the sides turn slightly crispy, flip it over to cook the other side of the pancake. This should take about 2 - 4 minutes.



5. Flip it over again and place sliced bananas in the middle of the pancake.



6. Make a vertical line down the center of the pancake with the bananas. Sprinkle the sugar over the bananas.



7. Fold the sides of the pancake over the banana so that it looks like a tortilla wrap.



8. Remove it from the pan and set it on a plate. Serve hot.

 I just produced this video so that you don’t have to imagine how to spread the batter in the pan to make nice beautiful thin round crepes. Enjoy!