Wow this week's been busy, but I have no idea why! I guess the newish job, studying for said job, marathon training and planning for my boyfriend's 30th, I've had no time to think about blogging until now! I have however made some cool dishes, and this Polish dish was one I've wanted to make since I tried them at Christmas.
Krokiety are simply savoury filled pancakes - traditionally filled with either a cabbage mixture, or meat and mushroom. As we love our protein, I went for the meat and mushroom krokiety and for a first attempt I was very happy!
Filled with a mixture containing low fat (less than 5%) pork mince, onion, mushrooms and a variety of mixed herbs, these are a perfect midday meal. They're really easy to make, and you could always make the pancakes in advance and then fill and finish the krokiety off later in the week! They're also perfect for all of the family to enjoy - you could even have children assembling the krokiety for you to get them involved :)
My first attempt wasn't perfect, as I overfilled a few pancakes so they opened up...but they still tasted great and I learnt not to overfill the rest of them :D
Makes 6 big krokiety (serves 3-6 depending on your appetite)
Ingredients:
For the pancakes:
- 190g (1 & 1/2 cups) plain flour
- 240ml (1 cup) milk
- 240ml (1 cup) water
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp oil/oil spray
For the filling:
- 250g low fat (<5% fat) minced pork
- 200g mushrooms (I used standard white mushrooms but if you can get them, wild mushrooms would be amazing!)
- 1 red onion
- Few sprays of oil spray (or use a small amount of flavourless oil)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Pinch of chilli flakes
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano (or finely chopped fresh)
- 1 tsp dried parsley (or finely chopped fresh)
To finish:
- 1 egg, beaten
- 150g ( ) slightly stale bread
Method:
1. Make the filling. Brush any dirt off of the mushrooms, then chop finely along with the red onion. Lightly spray a frying pan/wok with oil, and fry the onions and mushrooms on a low heat until the onions are translucent. If they start sticking, don't add more oil! Instead, add splashes of water to the pan.
2. Once cooked, pour the onions/mushrooms out of the pan into a mixing bowl.
3. Fry the pork mince in the same pan on a low heat, until the meat is cooked (it will have changed colour from pink to grey). Pour into the bowl containing the onions and mushrooms.
4. Add the herbs and spices to the mixture and taste for seasoning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
5. Blitz the mixture briefly so that it becomes smoother (don't over blitz though as you want some texture left). Set aside to cool completely.
6. Make the pancakes by sifting the flour into a large mixing bowl with the salt. Whisk the eggs into the flour one at a time - the mixture will be very thick.
7. Whilst whisking, pour in the milk. Don't stop whisking until the mixture is smooth.
8. Pour in the water whilst whisking. If you do end up with some lumps, you can briefly process it in a blender until smooth.
9. Grease a frying pan with oil and place on a medium-high heat. Once heated, pour around 80ml (1/3 cup) of batter into the pan and swirl all over.
10. Cook for a few minutes, until the base of the pancake is firm (and should be a light brown colour) and can be flipped - you can use a spatula to flip the pancake (I'm a wimp so didn't try the hardcore pan flip).
11. Cook the pancake for a further minute, then transfer to a plate.
12. Repeat with the remaining batter to make around 6 pancakes. If you have spare batter, you can always use the spare pancakes for dessert with some lemon and sugar (yum!).
13. Assemble the pancakes by placing a pancake on a plate. Place around 60ml (1/4 cup) of meat filling onto the pancake and spread over. Then roll the pancake up like a Swiss roll/roulade (this is how the Polish people I know make them - I think other families may do it differently).
14. Place the beaten egg in one bowl. Blitz the bread into fine breadcrumbs and pour into another bowl.
15. Dip the pancake in the beaten egg, followed by the breadcrumbs.
16. Lightly fry the pancake in a frying pan until the breadcrumbs have browned (this will only take a few minutes).
17. Enjoy!
These are also really nice re-heated, so you can always make a big batch then have them for lunch for the week :)
No comments:
Post a Comment