What's on the summer menu?
We at Gent Fair Trade appreciate fair food and good company, so we thought, why not combine both?
For the next 3 months, we will be bringing you delicious, easy, quick recipes and above all, using fair trade products from Oxfam Gent Centrum to cook and eat with your loved ones!
We will share our recipes and tips on our socials and this will be your chance to try to go fair trade for the summer and show your cooking skills with us!
For those of you with a sweet tooth, this week we prepared coconut crepes. The all time traditional recipe with a different twist.
Coconut is a healthy source of fat, as well as essential minerals like copper, iron and manganese. It is credited to have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. But, why should we care whether the coconut in every variant (milk, sugar, water, etc) is fair trade? In countries like the Philippines, the coconut tree is known as “the tree of life”. Every single part of it is leveraged for different products meaning that multiple families live off it around the world. By buying fair trade coconut products, you make sure that the farmers get a fair wage and that its production does not harm the soil or the environment.
We are substituting the milk and cane sugar for coconut milk and coconut sugar. You may think that the sugar is obtained from the fruit, but the truth is that it is produced with the flower salvia. The glycemic index is lower than in cane sugar, making it a good option for those with diabetes.
However, I recommend trying this recipe because of its flavor. It has a subtle coconut taste that will make you want to eat it straight from the pan.
To make our coconut crepes you will need the following ingredients.
The rest of the recipe is the same for any kind of traditional crepes, pannenkoeken or pancakes. But if you need some guidance, here you are!
Put all the ingredients in the blender or a container suitable for the mixer. You can try to do it by hand, in that case I recommend putting the dry ingredients first and adding the coconut milk little by little. Once you have the mix, add the eggs whisked before hand.
Blend it!
Heat a pan and add enough butter to cover it.
Pour the batter with the help of a ladler. Be sure you don't add too much, I recommend moving the pan in order to extend the batter in a circular shape.
Wait until it's golden, you will see little bubbles trying to come out from underneath. Normally, when it is ready to flip, you can unstick the edges easily.
Flip it! I normally do it with my hands, but you can use a spatula or if you are skilful do it with a wrist-pan movement.
Wait until the other side is cooked and you have it.
Repeat the process until the batter is gone.
You can add whatever you want as a topic, so we decided on fair trade chocolate spread!
TIPS:
You can add any topping you like, you can put some more coconut sugar, confiture or the fruit you like.
In the batter you can also add a splash of beer or lemon zest.
Everyone has their own way to prepare this plate, so don't hesitate to adapt the recipe to you.
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Did you like the recipe? Did we make your mouth water? Now you try it, cook your coconut crepes and share the result with us on social media!
