Indonesian pancakes recipe

I am not a big pancake fan.  Pancakes to an American is a fluffy pan-fried batter drizzled with maple-flavored syrup, something that’s never appealed to me, even growing up.  However, when traveling around the world, I’d learned to keep an open mind about pancakes, which can vary widely from country to country.

Banda pancakes – a popular pancake in Indonesia

“You have to try these pancakes,” my friend Carlos said.  We were in the Banda Islands of Indonesia, a place known as the Spice Islands.  This is where nutmeg trees were discovered by Europeans and was the only source of the spices nutmeg and mace for hundreds of years.  

We’d been touring the local islands, hiring a guide to take us to Banda Besar to look at the spice production and diving around the island of Api, the tallest island with an active volcano. 

Now we were on Banda Neira, where most of the population lived.  We’d already had a fabulous dinner a few nights ago at one of the local hotels, tasting Javanese specialties from the owner’s wife, who was from Java.

Tucked into a small restaurant, we’d eaten Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng, fried rice and fried noodles, before dessert came, a Banda pancake slathered with nutmeg jam.  

I took a bite.  The pancake wasn’t light and fluffy.  Instead, it was thick and spongy, with a hit of caramel on the edges.  

This style of pancake is easy to make at home and doesn’t have to be eaten with the nutmeg jam.  They are also excellent with maple syrup, Nutella, chocolate sauce, or any of your other favorite pancake toppings. 

Cook’s tip: You can make these pancakes dairy-free, replacing the milk, sweetened condensed milk, and butter with dairy-free alternatives.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1.5 cups milk (I used whole milk)
• 2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Tbsp butter for the pan
• Your favorite toppings

Method

Whisk the flour, milk and condensed milk together until there are no lumps in the batter.  

Heat your pan over medium-high heat. In this step we want to slightly caramelize the edges of the pancake.

Melt a pad of butter and pour about 1/2 cup of the batter into the butter. 

Let it cook until the edges are solid.  Flip.  When the second side cooks, the edges of the pancake will curl up a bit. 

Serve with your favorite topping.

This recipe makes five pancakes, 231 calories per pancake.

Original recipe from Nutmeg Cafe via Dee’lish.  If you would like to try the Nutmeg Jam yourself, you can buy it here.

Related Indonesian reading

• Two amazing day trips in Northern Sulawesi
• Explore remote Manado Indonesia
• Untouched islands of northern Indonesia
• Packing list for Indonesia (not Bali)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amy Alton

Amy has been travelling the world full time since 2014.  In 2020, she finished sailing around the world with her husband, David, on their sailboat, Starry Horizons. 
While sailing, they’ve visited 40 countries and sailed 43,000 nautical miles.  They spent over three months island hopping in Indonesia, and several more months exploring other parts of Southeast Asia.
Sailing has allowed them to enjoy some extremely remote locations that few tourists get to see.  She writes about her adventures on her blog, Out Chasing Stars.