Brazilian Panquecas

 

Panquecas is a hit everywhere in Brazil. I've had panquecas my whole life in Brazil and somehow I found myself missing it. So, I decided to treat ourselves.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups unbleached flour
1 ½ cups milk
3 eggs
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp salt

Sift the flour, salt and corn starch. Set aside.
Using your blender, blend all the liquid ingredients well and slowly add the dry mixture and beat until smooth. The dough will be “runny”.

Cooking Instructions

Your skillet should be very hot, but not burning. Slightly oil it with 2 drops of vegetable oil and brush it very well over your skillet with a silicone brush. Use ¼ of cup of the “runny” dough for each panqueca. Carry it on as you would for crêpes. Your panquecas should be thin.

Filling : There are many ways to make the filling.

1 - Use your favorite vegetarian filling.

2 - Chicken filling: You can cook a chicken breast or two in salt and water until fully cooked and shared it. (I used chicken tights as I think it has more flavor). Fry a medium onion and 3 pressed garlic cloves in 1 ½ table spoon of vegetable oil. Add 3 fresh tomatoes without seeds and peel (or tomato sauce), salt, oregano, pepper, canned corn, chopped cilantro.
As I said the filling is totally up to your preferences. The only rule is that no matter what’s your choice; it should not be too moister.

3- Ground beef filling: 1 lb very lean ground beef; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 2 cloves garlic, minced ; fresh cilantro, finely chopped (if you can't find cilantro or don’t like it, use green onions and parsley); oregano to taste; 2 large hard-boiled eggs, chopped into small pieces; 10-12 pitted green olives

Sauté onions and garlic in 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Add ground beef, cilantro and oregano and cook until brown. It should be rather dry, not very much liquid at all. Remove from heat. Add olives and chopped eggs.
Making the panquecas
Base a large oven proof dish with your preferred tomato sauce. Fill each panqueca with your favorite filling and roll it up. Put panquecas together in a prepared oven proof dish. Cover with tomato sauce, sprinkle with grated parmesan, mozzarella or cheddar cheese; and bake it until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with a little bit of parsley and serve it hot right away with and green salad. You will eat it on your knees!