Pan Rolls

Pan Rolls

Pan Rolls are an easy & quick sweet dish which our mothers and grandmothers used to make for you when you wanted something special or when some guests dropped in at short notice. The soft and melting pan rolls tease your taste buds and leave you asking for more.

The grated coconut mixed with sugar filling gives it a crunchy feeling.My mother in law used to just mix the freshly grated coconut with sugar and used it as the pan Rolls filling whereas my mother used to cook the grated coconut with sugar and cardamom and used it as the filling. This is my younger son's favorite and he wants to make these whenever there is some batter left after making Pazham Pori or Banana Patties .

Did you know that in United Kingdom & Ireland Shrove Tuesday is called Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day as it is customary to eat Pancakes on this day. This I came to know last year when my niece Ashlyn asked me whether Valiyamma(as she calls me) made Pancakes 🥞 before Lent. Then I Googled and found the story behind this Pancake Day.

Shrove Tuesday is celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday i.e.; the day before the commencement of the season of Lent leading up to the Easter Sunday. The name comes from old English "shrive"which means "to confess ". In the Middle Ages people used to go for confession and confess their sins on Shrove Tuesday sothat they were forgiven before the season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday.

Lent is a time of fast and abstinence and of making sacrifices giving things up. The church liturgy emphasized on eating plain food and refraining from food that gives pleasure during the period of lent . In many cultures this meant no meat,dairy or eggs.So earlier times ,Shrove Tuesday became the last chance for people to indulge themselves in good food on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and to make use of the items of food that were not allowed during Lent.

Pancakes 🥞 thus became associated with the day preceding Lent,cause it was a way to use up all the rich foodstuffs in the house such as eggs,milk and sugar ,before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent began.

So here comes the recipe of Mom's version of Pan Rolls

Pan Rolls

1.For the filling

Coconut grated-1/2 (coconut)

Or

Desiccated Coconut-1 cup

Sugar-1/2 cup(reduce if you don't want that much sweeter)

Cardamom-4(crushed)

In a nonstick pan mix all the above ingredients and cook on medium heat.

If you are using desiccated coconut then add 1/4 cup water to this.Once almost all the water dries up,Remove and allow it to cool.

2.For the Pan Cakes

Maida-1 cup

Eggs-2

Sugar-2-3 tbsps

Milk-1/2 cup

Vanilla essence-1 tsp

Water as required

Salt to taste

In a steel bowl beat the eggs ,salt and sugar with a fork.Add the vanilla & milk.Add the flour and stir in.Add enough water to make a thin batter without lumps.

Heat a nonstick pan and pour a big ladle of batter and spread it with the back of the ladle or simply shake the pan sothat the batter covers the entire pan.Cook on medium heat both sides & remove.Continue with the remaining batter till all the batter is used up.

Place a big spoon of the sweet coconut filling at one end of each pancake and just roll it out. The Pan Rolls are ready.

Or you can roll it halfway through and fold in the top and bottom sides and continue to roll till the end which I have done since as a kid my fussy eater son didn't want the filling to come out from the bottom of the roll as he was taking a bite from the top.

The advantage of cooking the coconut filling is that you can store the left overs at room temperature .