Alle Belle Recipe {Goan Pancakes}
Alle Belle or mannkio is a traditional Goan pancake stuffed with a moist coconut and palm jaggery filling. It is normally made by Catholic families on Pancake Tuesday.
Servings 8 to 10 pancakes
Ingredients
For the batter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, 143 g
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1 large egg approx 65 grams
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups of milk or water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Food color, as required, optional
For the filling
- 1 to 1 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut 160 grams
- 1 Goan palm jaggery pyramid grated, 3/4 cup, 100 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder or grated nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon table salt
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat an egg.
- Add milk or water, vanilla extract, mix until well combined.
- In a bowl, sift all-purpose flour.
- Add salt, whisk well.
- Add liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, in increments, whisking simultaneously, until you have a thin, free-flowing batter without any lumps.
- Pass the batter through a fine-mesh sieve to break down any tiny lumps.
- Cover the bowl and let the batter rest for 20 minutes. The longer the better! You can refrigerate the batter overnight as well.
- While the batter is resting, work on the coconut filling.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add freshly grated coconut, grated palm jaggery, green cardamom powder, and salt. Mix well until all the ingredients are well-incorporated.
- Taste the filling, and add more jaggery or some sugar if you like it sweeter.
- After 20 minutes, give the batter a good stir and check the consistency. It will thicken up slightly. If the batter is too thick, adjust with a tablespoon of milk or water at a time if needed.
- Divide the batter into 4 bowls. I ended up with 2 cups of batter.
- Tint the batter using your desired food color.
- Heat a 7-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Grease the pan with some oil or melted butter, wipe off excess.
- Pour about 1/4 cup batter, swirl the pan to spread the batter so that it covers the entire surface of the pan.
- Reduce the heat to low, cook the crêpe for about 1 minute or until it looks dry on the top and edges begin to release from the pan. Cooking time will also depend on how thick the batter is. The thinner it is the faster it will cook.
- Slide the crêpe onto a plate. Bring up the heat back to medium-low.
- If you cannot slide the crêpe easily, simply use an offset spatula to transfer it to a plate.
- You could also flip the crepe by turning the pan upside-down onto a plate or on a tea towel in a single layer. Whatever is convenient for you!
- While the pan is heating up, quickly work on stuffing the crepes. Place about 2 tablespoons of the filling as shown in the pic below, fold both sides, roll from one end until you reach the other end, similar to a spring roll. Transfer to a serving platter.
- Grease the pan, and follow the same procedure to make the remaining crêpes. Cook a crêpe and stuff it simultaneously.
Video
Notes
If you use a smaller pan, you can make more pancakes.
Adjust the jaggery as per desired sweetness. If using regular sugarcane jaggery, reduce it to 1/2 cup as it is sweeter than palm jaggery.
Please refer to the storage instructions, recipe tips, variations, and FAQs for more info related to the post.
Measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml, 1 teaspoon = 5 ml