Pancakes filled with creamy chicken, pineapple & ginger

I don’t deny that I’m a pancake girl! And when it rains over a weekend and Berto asks what I would like to eat, pancakes always come first to my mind.

In the late 1990s there was a pancake restaurant in Stellenbosch that was run by a Dutch couple. As far as I know, De Zoete Inval unfortunately no longer exists, but we loved going there in the winter to enjoy their delicious pancakes. One of their pancakes was filled with chicken, pineapple and ginger which was my absolute favourite. Over the years Berto has adapted this recipe and we eat it often. I’m sure, those of you who like filled pancakes, will love this just as much as I do.

Creamy chicken recipe:

Put it on the table:

First, we are going to show you how to make the creamy chicken. After that we will quickly bake a couple of pancakes before we fill them with the chicken, pineapple and ginger.

Ingredients for creamy chicken

6 chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)

3 – 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon each of fresh thyme and rosemary

1 teaspoon each of dried thyme and rosemary

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

250g sliced button mushrooms

butter (to fry mushrooms)

1 onion, chopped

1½ cups heavy cream

fresh parmesan cheese, grated

salt & pepper (to taste)

Start by patting the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Combine the fresh herbs, garlic (one finely chopped) and salt and pepper. Add a little olive oil to mix it into a paste. Coat the chicken evenly with the combined seasoning and let it rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the seasoning to be absorbed by the chicken.

Ingredients for seasoning chicken

Season the chicken

Heat a little oil in a large pan or pot over medium-high heat and fry chicken thighs until brown on each side and no longer pink in the middle. Once you’re done with the chicken, transfer it to a plate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Sear and brown the chicken thighs

To the same pan/pot, heat oil and fry the chopped onion until soft. Add the butter and mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Stir and add chopped garlic and cook until soft.

Fry onion, mushrooms and garlic together

Chop the cooked chicken into pieces and add these to the onion and mushrooms. At this point, Berto added a cup of chicken stock so that the chicken mixture is not too dry.

Add chicken and chicken stock

Add the parsley and dried thyme and rosemary and sauté until fragrant (about 1 minute).

Add herbs

Finally, stir in the cream, bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and continue to cook until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the parmesan cheese and let it melt for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Time to add the cream and parmesan cheese

Pancake recipe:

Put it on the table:

With your chicken filling done, it’s time to move onto the pancakes. I’m sure everyone knows how to bake pancakes, but here’s a quick look at what our secret ingredient in our pancake batter is.

Ingredients for pancake batter (spot the secret ingredient)

250ml (1 cup) cold water

125ml (½ cup) milk

2 eggs

250ml (1 cup) cake flour

5ml (1 teaspoon) baking powder

salt

12,5ml (1 tablespoon) brandy (!)

(!) Yes, the brandy is the secret ingredient. But if you don’t have brandy in the house, you can use vinegar.

Whisk the water, milk and eggs together. Then slowly beat in the cake flour and baking powder and continue beating until the mixture is smooth. Now add the salt and brandy (or vinegar) and whisk well together.

Whisk all ingredients for a pancake batter

And then you pour a spoonful batter at a time into a hot pan and bake the best pancakes ever.

Pancake time

The last ingredients to make this pancake complete, are pineapple and ginger. We buy ginger in a syrup at our local store and cut it into thin strips. If you want, you can even pour some of the ginger syrup on top of your pancake.

Ginger and fresh pineapple slices

Now it’s time to ‘build’ the pancake. You can add as much (or as little) of the ingredients as you like. But don’t be stingy with the ginger, I promise that it works really well with the chicken and pineapple.

One pancake

First spoon a layer of chicken, followed by pineapple slices

Finish it off with a few thin slices of ginger

Pancake with creamy chicken, pineapple and ginger

And now you’ll have to excuse me – Berto is coming home from work soon and there’s only one pancake left!