Finland Food: Spinach pancakes - Pinaattiletut
One of my favorite Finnish foods are spinach pancakes. They can be bought readymade but the homemade ones are the most delicious. Don't you just love their green colour? I remember having them at school for lunch. Back then they were served with sweet and tart red jam (maybe gooseberry?) and a salad with shredded cabbage and lingonberries (wasn't much to my liking). There was always a salad or some vegetable served with the school lunch. I'm very proud of the Finnish school lunch which is served on every school day in every school and is free.
A couple days ago I actually made a discovery on how to make even better spinach pancakes. I haven't got a clue how I didn't realise it by myself earlier, but I've always been wondering how they make their pancakes so green at Atria, Saarioinen etc. (convenience food manufacturers), as my homemade ones were always pale with dark green spots. Recently I bought a Finnish food/travel magazine called Mondo Ruoka&Matka (the 2012 edition was superb!!! I haven't tried yet many recipes from this year's edition, but it seems promising :D) and there is a recipe for spinach pancakes which uses fresh spinach instead of the usual frozen spinach. It results in such a lovely green hue and the taste is so... spinach-ful. I already renamed these as Kermit's Pancakes :D
Spinach pancakes (for 2-3)
50 g fresh baby spinach
350 ml milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
30 g wholewheat flour
70 g all-purpose flour
1 Tsp vegetable oil
butter/oil for frying
tart berry jam (lingonberry, cranberry, gooseberry...) for serving
Wash the spinach. Puree it with half of the milk in a blender. Add the rest of the milk, egg, salt, flour and oil and mix into a batter. Warm up a frying pan, grease it with butter/oil and fry either small or big pancakes on both sides for a couple of minutes. Enjoy warm with jam (or without as I do ^^)
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| The batter looks like 抹茶 ^^ |
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I am an American living in Finland and appreciate all your Finnish recipes in English :) Made these this morning for breakfast (I know they are meant for lunch but oh they work so nice in our mornings). They were wonderful! I have had fresh ones at one local restaurant and this recipe tasted exactly like them. I will try them again with a little more flour to make stronger ones (like the store bought ones) for my toddler so he can more easily hold them. This recipe for adults is oh so perfect though. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your lovely comment :) Please tell me how it goes with more flour. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI ended up buying one of those pancake pans I see here in Finland with the four small round molds. I used the pan and did not need to change the recipe at all and they came out perfect. I did have to double the recipe because the pancakes were thicker, which did change the flavor a bit too. I might try melted butter instead of the vegi oil next time. With the thin ones fried in melted butter it was soo buttery and yummy. I think I am just missing the buttery flavor in the thicker ones so I am sure butter in the mix will fix it. Thanks again, these are still a favorite in our house!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually using that kind of a pan, but it didn't occur to me to mention about it. It's actually funny to realize how much is assumed in our daily life without even noticing it. Thanks again :)
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