by Kristina Pernar
My parents are Hungarian and Croatian, so the Palascinta is a family tradition on both sides (just with different spelling). They are thin pancakes typical of Northern Croatia and Hungary. My family has been eating them every February for generations to celebrate Fat Tuesday.
Ingredients
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch salt
1 cup carbonated water
Butter, for cooking pancakes
For filling: Your favourite jam, nutella or Cottage Cheese Filling
Cottage Cheese Filling
250g Cottage Cheese
3-5 tbsp Sugar (to taste)
1 tbsp sour cream
1 package of vanilla sugar
Directions
1. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then whisk in the flour, milk, sugar, and salt to make smooth pancake batter. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours to let the batter rest.
2. To make the cheese filing, warm a pan on medium heat. Add the cottage cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla sugar. Mix the ingredients together until the sugars have melted into the cheese and the mixture is warm. Set aside and heat up when the pancakes are ready to be filled.
3. Fold in the carbonated water just before cooking the pancakes.
4. Warm a medium sized frying pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add a spoonful of butter. Let the butter melt and swirl to cover the bottom of the pan.
5. Use a ladle to pour batter into the pan, gently tip and twist the pan to spread the batter onto the entire bottom of the pan. When batter begins to bubble on the top, turn the pancake over and cook for 4 or 5 seconds longer. Remove the pancake. Add butter before cooking each pancake and continue to cook all of the batter
6. To serve, place the pancake flat on a plate and add a few tablespoons or your filling of choice. Take one side of the pancake and roll up the pancake a couple of times so that the filling is secure. My favourite palascintas are filled with the cottage cheese filling or apricot jam.