Tag Archives: cooking on a boat

Fingerfood, From the pantry, sweets

Eggless pikelets

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What are pikelets? Pikelets are essentially mini pancakes made with flour, egg, milk and sugar. They are popular in the country I was born – New Zealand. I was recently in a position where I wanted to make pikelets but didn’t have eggs. We were sailing through Indonesia a few weeks ago, trying to get to Australia during this Coronavirus pandemic. As the fear of the virus spread through Indonesia, we found we were unable to go ashore to get groceries. In fact, in the end, we were unable to anchor anywhere, and things got a little scary. Read about our sailing nightmare here.

As our food supplies began to run low, we had to make do with what we had on board. Making pikelets as a filling treat for breakfast or lunch became a regular staple. Then came the day I had no eggs! The following recipe is what I came up with to overcome that particular obstacle. Seriously, I did not expect these pikelets to be all that nice and was pleasantly surprised. Dwayne loves them and says they are as good as the pikelets made with eggs. We definitely will continue to make these!

Pikelets

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of cold-pressed coconut oil
Approximately 330ml milk

#eggless #pancakes #blini

Method

Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the oil and the milk and whisk well.

Pour the pikelet mix into pouring jug for ease (or use a large spoon to pour batter into the pan).

Heat a large pan to medium-high. When the pan is hot enough, spray with cooking oil spray and slowly pour a small amount of batter on the pan to form round pikelets (about 2.5 inches across). Repeat adding pikelet batter to the pan. Don’t let the pikelets touch each other.

Cook until the little bubbles on top of the pikelets start to pop.

Carefully flip the pikelets and cook for another minute. Remove the pikelets and then repeat until you have used all the batter.

Serve with jam and cream, honey, or sugar and lemon. For a savoury treat serve the pikelets with sour cream, smoked salmon and dill.

Also, use this mix –

* to make Blini (used for appetisers) make the pikelet rounds with a 1-inch diameter and top with sour cream, smoked salmon, dill or caviar.
* to make pancakes double the recipe and cook large pancakes.

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Eggless Pikelets PIN
Salad, Thailand

Thai Banana Blossom Salad

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As we have spent a lot of time in Thailand over the last four years, I find myself cooking many Thai style meals. I usually shop at the local SuperCheap (a Thai supermarket) and use primarily local Asian vegetables and fruits in our meals.

For over a year now I have regularly seen banana flowers in the veggie section and finally decided to make a banana blossom salad. Using the traditional flavours of Thai cuisine this what I came up with…

Banana Blossom Salad

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoon palm sugar*
1 Tablespoon chilli paste or chilli jam
3 Tablespoons coconut cream

1 banana blossom
1 large red chilli
1 large green chilli
1 small carrot (or 1/2 a large carrot)
2 spring onions
bean shoots
4 Tablespoons of Asian fried shallots
2 Tablespoons of crushed peanuts**

Method

Mix the lime sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar and chilli paste in a bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add coconut cream and blend well. Check for the right balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Adjust as needed (fish sauce – salty, sugar – sweet, lime juice – sour and chilli paste – spicy). Set aside.

Cut the chillies lengthwise, remove the seeds and pith. Slice the chillies thinly and add to a large mixing bowl. Grate the carrot and add to the mixing bowl. Finely slice the spring onion and, along with the bean shoots, add to the dish. Set aside.

Thai food

Fill a large bowl with cold water and squeeze some lemon or lime juice into it. Remove the outer leaves of the banana blossom until all dark leaves have been removed. Keep the best two outer leaves for serving. Cut the blossom lengthwise and remove inner core. Finely slice the blossom and place each slice in the water as you do so, to stop it going black.

Thai food cooking

Strain the blossom and add to the mixing bowl, add the dressing and two tablespoons of the fried onion and mix well.

To serve

Place two clean banana blossom leaves on plates and heap with the salad. Garnish with a tablespoon each of fried onion and peanuts.

Banana Blossom Salad1

Bon appetite

Notes

*Use soft brown sugar instead of palm sugar

**I didn’t have peanuts so used a seed mix with the salad in the photos. Peanuts would definitely suit the taste better.

Chilli paste, chilli jam and Asian fried shallots found in Asian grocery stores.

This recipe will serve two as a meal or four to six as a side dish.

Add cooked prawns to make it a meal.

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Thai Banana Blossom Salad
From the galley, sweets

Lime Panna Cotta

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OMG! I love this dessert. Zesty and fresh, creamy and delectable! AND so easy to make. It really is a decadent indulgence which has been a hit at my dinner parties. On a boat? Believe me this is so easy to make as long as you can refrigerate the panna cotta. Another tip is make one large panna cotta instead of individual ones if it is easier for you to store in your fridge.

PannaCottaLime

Ingredients

600ml cream
200ml milk
3/4 cup caster sugar
4 kaffir lime leaves, torn up*
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1/4 cup lime juice
3 gelatine leaves or 10g powdered gelatine
Lime zest and lime slices, to serve

PannaCottaLime5

Method

I use small 85ml metal moulds and the mix fills six of them.

Place cream, milk, sugar, lime leaves and lime rind in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for seven to eight minutes. Do not allow it to boil or even simmer (just bring it close to a simmer). Keep a good eye on it and stir continually. Remove from heat. Add lime juice and gelatine (if using the leaf gelatine squeeze out excess water before adding it to the cream mix). Stir to combine. Set aside for ten minutes to help flavours to develop.

After ten minutes strain mixture through a sieve into a pouring jug and discard the solids.  From the jug pour the mixture into prepared moulds and refrigerate overnight.

Run a knife around the edge of each metal mould and dip base of each mould briefly in hot water. Turn each panna cotta out onto a serving plate. Top with a slice of lime and a sprinkle of lime zest and serve.

*I think of one kaffir lime leaf as the entire leaf i.e. the double. I separate the two leaves from the stem, so in the end I have eight leaves. I wash the leaves then bunch them up and twist them to tear them, leaving them mostly intact.

Do you like this recipe? Please share with family and friends and pin using the image below… thank you!

Lime Panna Cotta