Jaggery Banana Crepes

This dessert looks and tastes inspired, but it can be whipped up in a hurry.  I prefer the flavour of jaggery, raw Indian sugar, but brown sugar will also do.  The ingredients are in most pantries, and like I said, it whips up so fast!

This recipe serves four, and takes about fifteen minutes in total to prepare.  It’s a good idea to whip the batter together before dinner, and then cook this dessert just as somebody else is starting the coffee.  By the time the coffee’s ready, dessert will be too.

1tablespoon melted butter

I whisked but then had to strain the lumps out, a hassle!

½ cup water

½ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon salted butter

2 heaping tablespoons jaggery powder (or brown sugar)

¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder

3 long bananas (8 inches or so)

1 tablespoon Nutella (optional)

4 scoops best quality vanilla bean ice cream

Or

1 teaspoon cinnamon sugar (optional)

4 large spoonfuls of 1% cottage cheese

Before dinner, put the melted butter, water, milk and vanilla into a blender and buzz a moment to cool the butter.  Add the eggs and buzz again.  Add the flour and buzz quickly, till smooth.  Set aside.

Butter, cinnamon and jaggery melts and cooks fast!

After dinner, put a griddle onto medium high heat.  A few minutes later, put a saucepan onto medium high heat.  Add butter and jaggery or brown sugar to the saucepan, along with cinnamon.  After a few minutes, the butter and sugar will melt together and begin to bubble.  Check the heat of your griddle by tossing a drop of water onto it.  If it sizzles and evaporates, it’s ready. 

Coat bananas in the glaze and heat through.  No overcooking!

Have serving plates waiting on the counter.  Slice bananas into the sugary mixture, and gently stir to coat.  Pour a ladle’s worth of batter onto the griddle.  You can spread it around with the back of a wooden spoon, as you might do for a dosa, or you can tilt the griddle to spread the batter into a circle, about six inches across.  

As soon as it’s set (turns a flat colour with little shine), flip it with a large spatula, and do the other side.  Each crepe takes about a minute.  Place on plate, prettiest side down.

 

Start the next crepe, and continue.  Stir the bananas from time to time, so they get coated in deliciousness, but not too cooked.  Firm bananas are better than soggy overcooked bananas!

When crepes are all on plates, ladle most of the banana mixture in a line along the centre of each crepe.  Drizzle a bit of the Nutella over the bananas if you want to gild the lily.  Add a scoop of ice cream, or cottage cheese if you’re a Puritan. 

I took a smaller crepe and didn't line up the insides just right.  

Roll each crepe and set the folded pieces facing the plate.  Garnish with the left over banana and a few sprinkles of cinnamon sugar if you like.

Serve and enjoy.  I will confess to whipping up another batch of the banana for breakfast this morning, as I had left over crepe batter.  However, I behaved myself, and ate this with cottage cheese, sigh.  Even so, it tasted pretty decadent! 

Still a pretty good breakfast!