Serabi - vegan Indonesian pancakes

Breakfast: Serabi, having totally effed up a batch of Kaya

Lunch: Mint-bean salad with potatoes

Dinner: Suicide roll and yam and avocado roll with miso soup and that amazing yet simple salad at Simon Sushi, best sushi in Toronto!

I have never been to Indonesia, and in fact have never eaten these before now, but I thought I'd give them a go seeing as my fantastic vegan friend Charley requested some more breakfast recipes that she could actually eat. I often think of Charley as The Original Vegan as she was the first vegan friend of mine, and the first person for whom I tried to cook a vegan birthday cake. That first attempt may have ended up as a ball of dough that just refused to rise, but we still ate it, and a delicious ball of stubborn dough it was too.

These are super sweet, so I recommend serving with something a little bit tart; the blackberries we had went really well with them, especially when everything was drizzled with a coconut milk sauce.

I don't have the proper Indonesian-style pot thing they use to cook these in, and attempting to cook one in my wok just resulted in a massive sticky pile of crap. What worked perfectly was a non-stick muffin tin (or a cupcake pan, however you want to say it) on top of the stove. You can only heat 6 of the cups at a time unless your stove is huge, but you get nicely-sized mini Serabi that are cooked through. Yes, it's somewhat unconventional, but it works!

You'll need:
(Feeds 2)

100g rice flour
60g unsweetened shredded coconut
250ml light coconut milk
a pinch of salt

Method:

Mix together rice flour, coconut and salt
Add the coconut milk in a bit at a time, and beat until the mixture is light
Place your muffin tin on top of the stove and let it heat up
When it's hot, spoon about 1 tbsp of the batter into 6 of the cups
When bubbles start to come to the surface of the pancakes, over them with a pan lid or something of that sort
When all the pancakes are cooked, slide them out of the cups and start with your next batch of 6
Serve with something tart!

If you use glutinous rice flour instead of normal rice flour for these, they have a consistency much like coconut sticky rice pudding or super thick congee, which I have to admit, is not my first choice for a pancake consistency. Probably stick with the normal rice flour.

Incidentally, glutinous rice flour does not contain any gluten, so it's still fine for anyone with coeliac disease. Confusing, I know.

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