Pannkakor: Swedish Pancakes

Pannkakor are less of a breakfast food in Sweden and more often served as lunch/dinner, supper, or dessert. Most famously, pannkakor are served on Thursdays after a bowl of yellow pea soup (with or without ham, drizzled with mustard). They appear on school lunch trays, on hospital menus, and in heat-and-serve portions at the supermarket (complete with lingon berry preserves).

The number of pancakes you get will be determined partly by the size of the pan you use, and partly by the size of the eggs in your batter, partly how much batter you pour.

Klassiska Svenska Pannkakor
Classic Swedish Pancakes

(Translated and adapted from Pannkakor.se)

Makes approximately 11-12 thin pancakes, if using a 28 cm skillet

250 ml (1 cup) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
600 ml milk
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons butter, divided

In a large mixing bowl, preferably one with a spout for pouring, mix the flour and salt. Add 250 ml of the milk, and whisk until the batter is smooth. Add the remaining 350 ml of milk and whisk to combine. Add all three eggs, and whisk again until completely smooth and integrated, with no streaks of yolk in the batter.

Let the batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Close to the end of this time, preheat a 28cm non-stick skillet (or well-seasoned cast iron, if you have wrists of steel) over medium heat. At the same time, set your oven to warm and place a large "resting plate" on the middle or lower middle rack, so it will be ready to receive the pancakes as they come off the pan.

Melt the butter in a small bowl. add 22.5 mL (1.5 tablespoons) of melted butter to the pancake batter, and whisk through. The rest of the melted butter will be used to fry the pancakes, a little at a time between each pancake.

When the skillet is hot, just before you pour your first pancake, use a pastry brush to brush a little butter over the cooing surface of the hot pan. I measure my batter by pouring it into an actual measuring cup first, so that my pancakes are consistently sized If you have a ladle that is the right size, that will work well too. Pour 80 ml (1/3 cup dry measure cup) of batter into the buttered pan, and quickly lift and tilt the skillet so that the batter covers the bottom of the skillet in a thin layer, trying not to go up the sides of the pan.

Let the pancake cook for about 2 minutes - if you try to flip it too soon, it will tear, so be patient. If you are concerned that it is cooking too quickly, reduce the heat instead of reducing the cooking time. When the two minutes are up, slide a spatula carefully under and around the edge of the pancake, and then slide it beneath to quickly lift and turn the pancake. This may take a bit of practise to get a smooth action, but you have a lot of batter with which to practise. The cooked side of the pancake should look a bit lacy and browned in spots, like in the picture above.

Let the pancake cook on the second side for about 30 seconds, or until set, and then slide it onto the resting plate in the oven.

Put the skillet on a unheated burner. Brush with melted butter, add the next portion of batter and tilt to spread the batter, and immediately return the skillet to the hot burner (medium heat). This helps keep the skillet from overheating, and prevents the butter (and the next pancake) from burning. Continue as before, stacking up the pancakes until all the batter is used. You may need to gradually reduce the heat under the burner as you work your way through the batter, so if the pancakes are getting too dark, or dark too quickly, reduce the heat a little as you go.

If there is any melted buter left over at this point, it can be brushed over the top pancake(s) for a little extra luxury.

Pancakes are traditionally served with lingon berry preserves, or fresh berries and whipped cream, but you can also use syrup (maple, birch, any fruit syrup, chocolate) or, of course, any other fillings you choose.



Swedish proverbs featuring pancakes

Man matar inte grisar med pannkakor.
➔ One doesn't feed pigs with pancakes.

Man är aldrig säker förrän hon ligger i magen, sa pojken som tappade pannkakan i askan.
➔ You're never certain until it's in your belly, said the boy who dropped the pancake in the ashes.

Upp som en sol och ner som en pannkaka.
➔ Up like a sun, and down like a pancake.

Tomato, Coconut & Red Lentil Soup

I am a huge fan of soup, as you can probably tell from my collection of soup recipes. Tomato soup has always had a particularly special place in my heart, dating from some of my earliest memories of coming inside for lunch and having a steaming bowl of tomato soup with a toasted cheese sandwich. That combination is still one of my absolute comfort foods.

Much as I continue love classic tomato soup, sometimes I want something a little different. This was the genesis of my popular Fiesta Tomato Soup, which is chock full of veggies and rice, but this time I was craving something both heartier and a little richer. Since I'm a big fan of South Asian flavours, I reached into the cupboard and came up with coconut milk, red lentils, and a spice combination that I felt went with them. This is an absolute new favourite, and another fine reason to always keep coconut milk in the pantry. Remember to remove the bay leaf before blending (cough cough).

Tomato, Coconut, & Red Lentil Soup

Serves 4
Total time, prep & cooking: 1 hour

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 bay leaf
1 small yellow or red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
30 mL (2 tablespoons) tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon hot or mild curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard seed
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 400 gram tin crushed or diced tomatoes
60 mL (1/4 cup) dried red lentils (whole or split), washed thoroughly (no need to soak)
250 mL coconut milk
400 mL water or vegetable broth/stock

In a medium soup pot (I use a 2 litre pot), heat the oil and bayleaf over medium heat while you chop the onion and garlic. Add the onion and garlic to the pot and stir about, and let it gently fry until the onions are tender. While the onions are frying, open the tin of crushed tomatoes (do not drain them), open the container of coconut milk and stir if necessary), rinse and drain the red lentils, and measure the water/broth. Measure your spices into a small bowl or plate.

Give the onions a stir, and add the tomato paste. If it starts to really stick and you're worried about burning, add a few tablespoons of water. Stir the tomato paste through, and then add the spices and stir through again. Let the mixture cook, stirring frequently for a couple of minutes or until fragrant and integrated.

Add the tin of crushed tomatoes, the rinsed and drained lentils, the coconut milk, and the water/broth. If you are using water instead of broth, and especially if the tomatoes are not salted, you may wish to add a big pinch of salt at this point, too (about a quarter teaspoon). Give the whole pot a nice stir through, scraping the bottom of the pot to make sure nothing is stuck, and bring the mixture up to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

Take the pot from the heat and remove bayleaf. Use an immersion blender (or a regular blender, but in stages so the blender is never too full of hot liquid) to thoroughly blend everything into a smooth soup. Serve at once, or cool and store for up to three days in the fridge or, once cooled up to three months in a sealed container in the freezer.

If you want a garnish, a few drops of coconut milk from the bottom of the container swirled through, with or without a sprinkle of garam masala, is a nice touch. Serve with bread (naan would be especially good) or idli.

Swedish Hash: Pytt i Panna

Pytt i Panna (AKA Pyttipanna), which translates somewhat literally as "small bits in a pan" is the Swedish version of hash. This is a classic Husmanskost (homestyle cooking) dish, and it is also classic pub food here in Sweden. Swedes don't eat it for breakfast, though - it's a lunch or casual supper in these parts. While it is very easy to make at home, it's made even easier by the vast array of frozen options that you can simply empty into a pan and stick in the oven until it's done (fried egg managed separately, of course). The most common types of pytt I see in the supermarket are Korv (sausage), Ox (roast beef), Bacon, Skinka (ham), Krogar (pub style, usually a mixture of bacon, sausage, and ham), Kyckling (chicken) and vegetarian (mushroom, peppers, and/or zucchini). When served as a supper, it is generally accompanied by diced or sliced pickled beets and/or fermented cucumber pickles on the side.

I've decided to go with Korv for my first from-scratch attempt, and found the whole process very straight-forward with delightful results. I'm using Swedish Falukorv, for which you can substitue by using bologna sausage, German Fleischwurst (or Fleischkäse, for that matter), Lyoner sausage, or even European (Frankfurter) wieners and get a very similar effect. In practice, of course, you can use any sausage you like, including vegetarian or vegan options, or indeed, any of the items listed above.

Pytt i Panna

Serves 2

1 tablespoon canola oil
80 grams yellow onion
150 grams Falukorv (or other sausage, see above)
500 grams waxy potatoes
1/8 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Start by warming a large skillet on low heat while you chop vegetables. Also preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F with a rack in the upper middle slot.

Peel and finely dice the onion. Part of the goal is to have all of the pieces approximately the same size, so keep that in mind when you are dicing. The onions will shrink a bit as they cook, but that's fine.

Remove casing (if any) from the Falukorv, and finely dice the meat, keeping in mind that the pieces should be roughly the same size. Go smaller than you think, because what looks small on the cutting board suddenly seems much larger in the skillet.

Add the oil to the pan and turn up the heat to medium. When the oil is hot, add the diced onions and sausage to the skillet, and spread them out a bit. While they sizzle and start to cook, prepare the potatoes. You can stir the onions and sausage a few times while you're chopping potatoes.

Peel the potatoes (or not - you can just wash them if you prefer) and remove any ugly bits. Chop into fine dice (I like to slice each potato into vertical slices, then make piles of the slices to slice again into baton shapes, and then turn to slice into dice, but you can use whatever method you like). It is especially important to keep the pieces small, so that they cook quickly, and so they match (roughly) the size of the sauasge pieces. We're talking smaller than a standard sugar cube, for scale. Perfect dice is not required, but making an attempt at general uniformity makes a more attractive dish. Just think of it as an excuse to practise your knife skills.

One the potatoes are diced, add them to the skillet andd give everything a thorough stir-through. Sprinkle with salt and white pepper (go easy on the salt if you are using a salty meat), and stir through again. Cook, stirring occasionlly for about 10 minutes, and then place the skillet in oven, uncovered, and leave it for 10 minutes. You do not need to use the oven, though. You can also continue to cook on the stovetop, stirring occasionally, for another 10-15 minutes as needed. Test one of the larger potato pieces to be sure it has cooked through, before serving.



While the pytt finishes cooking in the oven, you can use the time to tidy up and lay out any sides (such as pickled beets or cucumbers), and also to fry an egg for each portion. Sunny-side-up is pretty, but poached is another good option. In fact, you can do the eggs any way you like best.

Spoon the pytt from the skillet onto the serving dishes, top with the eggs, and add any pickles you might like. Some folks put a little parsley on top, too, but I don't bother. Boom! Beautiful breakfast, brunch, or dinner.



Freezer: You can make your own Freezer Treasure version, by spreading the diced, uncooked cubes out on a sheet, freezing until firm, and then bagging. You can cook this entirely in the oven, stirring a few times, for about 40 minutes instead of the stovetop method.