coconut milk pancakes with jaggery filling also known as pani pol.
Here’s your step-by-step guide on how to make a classic Sri Lankan sweet snack.
All you have to make are a few pancakes/crepes and a filling made with scraped coconut and jaggery(palm sugar).
An easy and popular snack for anyone wanting to satisfy their sweet cravings.
What is pani pol?
Pani pol is the Sinhalese term used to describe these coconut milk pancakes stuffed with a sweet jaggery and coconut filling.
Is it crepes or pancakes?
Not to confuse with the American fluffy pancakes, most Sri Lankan use the word”pancakes” to describe these thin pancakes but yes they are crepes.
Keep in mind these crepes are also different from your regular paper-thin crepes because we use coconut milk as the liquid base.
The coconut milk gives much softer and tastier pancakes than the usual crepes made with milk and flour.
What is pani pol pancake
sweet filling made with?
The filling is made with jaggery which is a hard block of natural sugar obtained from a particular sugar palm tree.
What can I substitute jaggery with?
If you are unable to find Sri Lankan jaggery, try any grocery shops that sell Thai ingredients, though lighter in color, Thai palm sugar blocks can be used as well.
Although golden syrup has been mentioned as a substitute, I would personally recommend using it as a last resort which means when brown sugar is not available as well.
Why?
Simply because of the taste, there’s an undertone of bitterness to the syrup as you cook it.
Or you can use brown sugar as the substitute to make the sweet coconut filling.
Can I substitute freshly scraped coconut with dessicated coconut?
Yes, if you are unable to find scraped coconut replace it with dessicated coconut.
You can also use shredded coconut or coconut shavings.
For coconut shavings, make sure to run them through a blender to shred them into smaller pieces, avoid adding liquid when you do this.
Ideas to make natural food coloring for the pol pani pancakes.
I try to avoid using artificial food coloring as much as I can.
Here are a few natural additives you can use to replace food coloring when you want to make these pol pani pancakes for festive occasions.
Yellow can be infused by adding Turmeric which we have done in this recipe.
Green can be infused by adding pandan powder or paste.
For red try adding a few tablespoons of beetroot juice.
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Beginner’s tip on making the sweet pancakes(pani pol) the right way.
- Have all the necessary ingredients ready.
- The batter for the coconut milk pancakes should be neither too thick or too thin but should coat the back of the spoon.
- a well used non-stick pan makes it easy to flip and remove the pancakes.
- Make sure to stir the batter before pouring it to the pan.
- Instead of using the usual ladle, I like to use a flat serving spoon to pour in the batter. (image below).
- It makes pouring the batter and handling the pan much easier than a ladle spoon.
Here’s how I make the crepes for the sweet coconut pancakes.
- I place the pan over medium heat for 20-30 second heating the pan, remove from fire, pour the batter on the edge/corner of the pan and swirl it around.
If I find that the batter is not enough to spread around, I just add a tablespoon to cover the gaps and swirl until I have perfectly round pancakes.
- Now that I know how much batter is needed to make a single pancake without any gaps, I add that quantity for all the other ones, swirl around, place it on fire to cook it off.
Making the filling.
- Use a non-stick pan to make the coconut filling.
- Constantly stir to avoid the coconut and palm sugar burning or
over caramelizing which will make the sweet coconut filling hard.
- While making the coconut-palm sugar filling, keep the heat at low-medium.
Utensils and appliances needed.
- Large bowl to combine ingredients
- Medium-sized nonstick frying pan
- A large flat serving spoon
- Non-stick pan to make the filling
- Plate to hold the crepes
- A coconut scraper(optional)
Workflow to make Sri Lankan pani pol pancakes.
Make the grated coconut filling with jaggery, set aside to cool.
Make the thin coconut pancakes.
Assemble both components.
coconut milk pancakes
with palm sugar filling
(pani pol).
Watch the short video guide above to help you make the pani pol pancakes.
Please make sure to read the recipe instructions carefully to avoid mistakes.
Ingredients
Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.
To make the jaggery-coconut filling.
2 cups of freshly scraped coconut(or dessicated coconut, shredded coconut, see notes above)
1 cup of shaved kitul jaggery(read above notes for substitutes).
1 tablespoon of sugar
3 cardamom pods slightly bruised( substitute with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla)
If you are using brown sugar instead of jaggery(palm sugar).
Use 1 and 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead of the Jaggery and follow recipe instructions as given below.
For the pancake/crepe batter
1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of thick coconut milk
2 eggs
1/2 spoon of Turmeric
1 cup of water
Salt to season
Method
How to make the sweet coconut filling.
Place pan over low fire, add jaggery(1 cup) combine well with sugar(1tbs), and cardamoms(3). heat over low fire.
Once the jaggery melts, add coconut to the palm sugar syrup and maintain low heat.
Continue to stir and reduce until the coconut and jaggery combine well till you have a slightly wet filling.
You should not leave the palm sugar filling at any point while it cooks or it might burn.
How to make the coconut milk pancake
batter.
In to a large bowl, add flour(1 cup), coconut milk(1 cup), eggs(2), turmeric powder(1/2 tsp) and water(1 cup).
Combine all ingredients well with a whisk until you have a thin batter. season with salt.
Set aside for 5 minutes to rest.
Making the Pancakes.
Lightly brush the frying pan with oil and place the pan over medium heat.
Once the pan is heated, with one hand remove it from direct fire and with the other quickly give a stir to the batter and then tilting the pan slightly pour batter to a corner and then quickly swirl the pan to cover the base of the pan to make the pancakes.
If you see any gaps forming just pour a little batter and swirl to even the pancake out.
Place the pan over low-medium fire and let the pancake cook until the edges come loose.
Flip and cook the other side for 10-20 seconds and immediately transfer the coconut milk pancake to a plate.
Repeat until the batter is over.
How to roll the pancakes
with the coconut-jaggery
filling.
Place the pancake on a flat surface, it’s important that the pancake side with tiny holes should be underneath, so when you roll out the pancakes this is the side that will be visible.
Having the first cooked side of the pancake facing down also makes the rolling easy and reduces any tearing.
Remove any cardamom from the sweet and add a tablespoon on one corner of the pancake( see image above or watch the short video).
Avoid adding too much of the filling as you don’t want to make the pani pol too sweet.
Roll once covering the filling then fold half an inch of the left and right side of the pancake inwards then continue rolling from the bottom to the top.
You can watch the video attached above for a visual on how it is done.
Serve warm. if there are any leftovers cover them with cling film and refrigerate, I find they taste even better when slightly cold.
Made this recipe?
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coconut milk pancakes with jaggery filling also known as pani pol.. Here’s your step-by-step guide on how to make a classic Sri Lankan sweet snack. All you have to make are a few pancakes/crepes and a filling made with scraped coconut and jaggery(palm sugar). As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.coconut milk pancakes with jaggery filling(pani pol)
Ingredients
Instructions
Watch the short video guide above to help you make the pani pol pancakes
How to make the sweet coconut filling.
HOW TO MAKE THE COCONUT MILK PANCAKE BATTER.
How to make the pancakes.
How to roll the pancakes with the coconut- jaggery filling.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10
Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 303Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 176mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 4gSugar: 24gProtein: 4g
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