Umami Mushroom and Truffle Pancakes

‘Umami’ can be loosely translated as ‘delicious savoury taste’ and is the latest food craze to hit the Western world.

Traditionally, we have always understood that there are 4 basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter, but ‘Umami’ is thought to be the 5th taste – the epitome of savoury. ‘Umami’ rich ingredients include: truffles, Parmesan, shellfish, cured hams such as Parma ham, mushrooms, fish sauce, soya sauce and asparagus.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 Extra large egg

250ml Milk

1 tsp Melted butter

80ml Sasko Bran-rich Self-raising flour

60ml Sasko Cake flour

Pinch salt

Filling:

30ml Truffle flavoured oil

400g Exotic mushrooms, sliced (a mixture of enoki, shiitake, portobello, shimeji)

60ml Full cream Sherry

1 tbsp Fish sauce

Pinch black pepper

1 tsp Fresh thyme leaves

30ml Cream

40g Parmesan (grated)

Method:

Whisk the egg and milk together in a mixing bowl, add the butter and whisk again to combine.
Add both flours and the salt and whisk until you have a smooth pancake batter.
Place a large non-stick frying pan on high heat.
Once hot, pour a little oil in the pan and swirl to coat the pan.
Pour a small ladle of the batter into the pan and swirl it around the edges to coat the bottom of the pan completely (if it doesn’t coat the bottom of the pan, add a little more and repeat.)
Fry until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan then use a spatula to gently lift the pancake and flip it over, fry for about 15 seconds and then pop onto a plate. Repeat until all the batter has been used – you should get 4-5 pancakes.

For the filling:

Place a large saucepan on med-high heat.
Once hot, pour in the truffle oil and add the mushrooms, fry for 3 minutes stirring occasionally, before adding the sherry, fish sauce, pepper and thyme.
Allow the mushrooms to cook down into the sauce and for the sauce to evaporate slightly before adding the cream.
Let the mushrooms bubble away until the sauce is reduced and slightly thickened and finally add the parmesan and stir through until it has melted into the mushrooms.
Place 2 pancakes on 2 plates and spoon equal amounts of the mushrooms into the centre of each pancake, fold over the sides to make a parcel