Tiny Pancakes For Caviar

By Nigella Lawson

Updated July 7, 2015

  • Jonathan Player for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
4(126)
Comments
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Eating caviar in a restaurant or supplying it for a group of people is extravagant to the point of recklessness. Buying a small tin and demolishing it entirely yourself is hedonistic heaven. I love these pancakes with caviar. Unlike regular blini, they do not need yeast, so they take only a few minutes to rustle up. I think of them as potato pancakes, but actually they use only a little potato starch, not real potatoes. They are very plain and not enormously potatoey, but they are the best carrier imaginable for anything salty. (Try them with sour cream and lox.)

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Ingredients

Yield:24 2-inch pancakes

  • ¼ cup potato starch

  • ½ cup all-purpose flour

  • Pinch of salt

  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda

  • ⅔ cup buttermilk

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 tablespoon melted butter, more for greasing griddle

  • Caviar and sour cream for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

4 grams carbs; 10 milligrams cholesterol; 26 calories; 1 gram fat; 34 milligrams sodium; 1 gram protein

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In mixing bowl, combine potato starch, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In separate bowl, mix buttermilk, egg and 1 tablespoon melted butter. Pour wet ingredients into dry, and whisk into a batter.

  2. Step 2

    Place a griddle or skillet over medium heat, and brush with melted butter. When griddle is hot, spoon scant tablespoons of batter onto it, about 2 inches apart. After a few minutes pancakes will rise. There will not be many bubbles on the surface. When bottoms are set and golden brown, flip them over, and cook until the other side is golden brown. Serve with caviar and sour cream. Pancakes may be frozen.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
126 user ratings
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Comments

Lisa Casey

Making these now. Had to double the amount of buttermilk; as the recipe stands, the dough was thicker than cookie dough! I assume "batter" to be the consistency of pancake batter. Didn't realize that I used low fat buttermilk (my regular brand was out) so maybe that had an effect?

Abi O

I didn't have potato starch so I did 2 T of wheat starch and 2 T of corn starch. They still turned out great. This was a thick batter, after buttering the skillet, I used one of my soup spoons to dollop the batter and the back of the spoon to spread it out to make our silver dollar sized pancakes. Dinner was a fun caviar, some leftovers, night

Isabel

I followed the instructions to the tee, and the batter was perfect, regular pancake batter consistency; not too thick, like other commenters had said. I used low fat buttermilk. You just need to whisk it well. We loved the pancakes. We liked them better than blinis, and much easier to make. I made them on my electric griddle, and I did not have to butter it.

Christine

Concur with Lisa -- the batter seemed way too thick as specified. We added more liquid and they turned out ok.

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