Apam Balik -Comfort food

No Malaysian can resist the apam balik which is truly a great stress remover at any time of the day .

Translated,the  Folded Pancake or also known ban chean kuih in Chinese, is a popular snack and something no one can resist when one gets a whiff of it at any pasar malam,morning markets or at any place where stalls congregate to serve evening snacks.

There aren’t many selling this old delicacy and the only way to have a taste of it is at the night markets or pasar malam that follow a schedule in making their rounds and even then,you are subjected to quite a lengthy wait as it is truly popular snack that needs no introduction to Malaysians.

Copper pans are heated well before a small enamel cup full of creamy batter is added on to it and evened out until all sides are covered as the batter is cooking, a generous palm full of sugar and peanuts are sprinkled on to the batter followed by a dollop of margarine and often ,a few spoonfuls of cream corn are added for crunch.When done, the pancake is quickly lifted off the pan,folded,margarine smeared on the top to keep it from drying .The apam balik has actually been improvised of late with the addition of bananas. Some also prepare it with sugar and cheese.

I have tried many versions of apam balik .But the taste and texture was not encouraging. The recipe below is the nearest that had satisfied me to date. This recipe comes from http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com, Even though as she admits that the original apam balik turns soft after 20mins or so, but her's  seem to stay crisp!!  Well…don’t care about it, as long the taste and required crisp is there ,good enough for me .

Ingredients:

170 gm all purpose flour
100 gm rice flour
30 gm cornstarch
2 tsp double action baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 - 7 ozs water
150 gm fine granulated sugar

Filling:

120 g butter
150 gm fine granulated sugar
1 cup chopped roasted peanuts

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together, strain and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Heat a crepe pan or a small nonstick pan slightly. (just hot enough for batter to stick to pan).Grease with some butter.

Pour in  a ladleful of pancake batter and swirl pan so that batter is coating the edge. If the pan has large surface area then just ensure that the batter is thin up to the edge, use a bottom of a ladle to spread the batter on the heated pan.

Cook till the bottom part of the pancake is golden brown.

Sprinkle with sugar and cook for a few seconds.Then add in melted butter and then chopped roasted peanuts.

Fold the pancake into  half and leave to cool.(it will be crispy as soon as it gets cold).

Submitting the above recipe to Cooking With Seeds-Peanuts hosted by Priya's Versatile Recipes