Foodie excerpt - Chapter 9. To fight the unknown is to fight oneself.
Kai was standing in front of the still fuming hyperdrive unit, munching on a rolled fluffy pancake with lots of small craters on one side where little bubbles had most likely popped during its making. Having shared the last of the food stored on the ship with her treacherous passengers, she had quickly ventured to the outpost for an urgent replenishment. She could do no proper thinking without food in her stomach. The pancake filling was delightfully sweet and had a hint of orange flavour. It was a rich date paste from what she could guess, with a cinnamon boost. The juicy oranges made her mouth water, while the almond slices gave a lovely little crunch. Perhaps being stuck on this planet would’t be all that bad if all of the food was this tasty despite the scenery looking like a deserted wasteland wherever you looked.
Delicious food or not, she had to fix her ship. There were definitely a few parts that she could attempt to trade for what she would need, but they would be uncommon, well-earned parts that she had no interest in parting with. There was also no telling what peddlers in this part of the galaxy were looking for and it’s not as if she had any credits to spare. Those two good for nothing cheats, leaving her stranded. At least the trip had been a good test run. It was important to look at the bright side of life, Kai reminded herself. The first thing she needed to do was to check the hyperdrive unit and everything around it that the fire may have damaged to see what she had to work with.
Bubbly orange pancakes
Makes 8 large pancakes
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Resting time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients
Pancakes
200 g fine semolina
100 g flour
10 g fresh yeast
10 g baking powder
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
400 ml water
200 ml oat drink
Filling
250 g dates
50 ml water
4 drops of orange water
2 tbsp almond butter
1 tsp cinnamon
4 oranges
40 g sliced almonds
Instructions
In a large bowl, add the semolina, flour, fresh yeast, baking powder, sugar and salt. Warm the water and oat drink, making sure not to overheat or it will harm the yeast. Add the warm liquids to the bowl and mix. Once combined, transfer to a blender and blend for two minutes. Transfer the dough into a large bowl and cover. Let the dough rest for 1 hour somewhere warm.
To prepare the filling, place the dates in hot water for 30 minutes. When ready, remove the pits and the skin and place the dates in a blender. Add the water, orange water, almond butter and cinnamon and blend until smooth.
Peel the oranges and cut them into cubes. Set aside.
Oil a pan and cook the pancakes one at a time on one side only on medium heat for a few minutes. Bubbles will form and the pancake is ready when the dough has been cooked throughout.
To serve, spread some date paste on the pancake and top with pieces of oranges and sliced almonds.
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