Popular recipes that uses ube or purple yam include ube cake, ube ice cream, ube candies and ube halaya to name some but have you tried ube pancakes?
Ube is a type of root crop specifically a yam that has a distinct purple colour, similar to taro and sweet potato in texture this root crop is widely used in the Philippine cuisine as a dessert ingredient. Popular recipes that uses this include ube cake, ube ice cream, ube candies and ube halaya to name some but have you tried it in pancakes?
I am not sure though if this is popular in the Philippines because the last time I was there I never heard of this until one time I saw this in a restaurant poster when I was in Hawaii (Yes! of all places this is where I will discover it). I saw it when I was walking from Ross outlet to the Walmart near Ala Moana, I haven’t tried it there but I told myself I am going to make them when I come back home to New Zealand and that’s what I did. At first it was an experiment until I got my formula, unlike the normal pancakes since majority of its ingredient is purple yam this is quite moist but still fluffy, it was harder to flip due to its moistness but best of all it has that ube texture and taste that nearly resembles the cake version.
The Ube Pancake I saw in Hawaii was served with cream and butter but for this post I guess it’s more logical to use macapuno as ube is always associated with it back home.
I love ube ice cream and ube pastries, so I bought purple yam at our local asian market and will be attempting ube pancakes tomorrow. My question is, should I make ube halaya first to put into the mix or just grate the yam into the mix?
PS: I’ve never made ube halaya either but I know it’s used a lot in the making of pastries.
Hey thanks for the recipe. I just tried this out with a fresh purple yam as they called it in my grocery store,. And it tasted good but when it cooked it turned blue? Any ideas why that happened.
Interesting, I haven’t encountered that, what did happened to me is that when I placed the macapuno on top what ever it touched turned green, must be the reaction of the preservatives on macapuno with the cake. Anyways you can use food colouring to boost up the purple colour, I used the frozen grated one, I think that has already some food colouring added. Hope this helps.
I used fresh ube and they turned green during cooking! I suspect it’s a reaction with the baking powder. I should try adding ube to yeast-raised Belgian waffle batter.
Thanks! I think Rumford’s is aluminum free. That should help with any other purple fruit, such as blackberries and blueberries. They all have the same color changing pigments.
Update: I tried it again with aluminum-free baking powder and another fresh ube, grated. It was less green, but that might just be that my ube was a bit dried out. After the second skillet of pancakes, I added 1/2 teaspoon Ube extract and *now* they look like yours. I think the frozen ube may have extract added. Frozen blueberries turn green in pancakes, so I don’t think freezing is the difference.
I never thought of ube in pancakes, what a great idea! It looks really yummy especially with macapuno 🙂
★★★★★
Yummy….this ube pancake looks Delish! I LOVE UBE HALAYA and UBE ICE CREAM
★★★★★
What a fun idea! I’ve never heard of ube, but it sure makes a nice looking pancake! Good stuff — thanks.
★★★★★
This sounds really interesting Raymund. I’ve not heard of it before, so will be fun to experiment and try out something new. 🙂
Oh, I am always learning things from you Raymund – thanks for extending my knowledge – it is what I love about blogging.
★★★★★
The color of ube alone is appealing. Everything I’ve seen made with ube is just beautiful, including these pancakes. Great stake of goodness Raymund!
★★★★★
Your pancakes look awesome! Is that frozen ube you used already cooked? Or is it raw? I’m from the Philippines, so I’m gonna use fresh ube 🙂
Yes I used the frozen one but fresh would be better.
i have ube powder so how much quantity should i use?
Rehydrate around 200 g of it to get one cup of ube equivalent.
I love ube ice cream and ube pastries, so I bought purple yam at our local asian market and will be attempting ube pancakes tomorrow. My question is, should I make ube halaya first to put into the mix or just grate the yam into the mix?
PS: I’ve never made ube halaya either but I know it’s used a lot in the making of pastries.
No need to make halaya, just add them to the mix
Hey thanks for the recipe. I just tried this out with a fresh purple yam as they called it in my grocery store,.
And it tasted good but when it cooked it turned blue? Any ideas why that happened.
Thanks
Interesting, I haven’t encountered that, what did happened to me is that when I placed the macapuno on top what ever it touched turned green, must be the reaction of the preservatives on macapuno with the cake. Anyways you can use food colouring to boost up the purple colour, I used the frozen grated one, I think that has already some food colouring added. Hope this helps.
I am in Germany and getting fresh and frozen ube is a bit hard to get but I can get ube jam, is that ok to use instead?
Yes but you will have to lessen the sugar as ube jam is already sweet
I used fresh ube and they turned green during cooking! I suspect it’s a reaction with the baking powder. I should try adding ube to yeast-raised Belgian waffle batter.
It’s the baking powder. Baking powder with aluminum in it reacts to ingredients making purple green, get a brand that does not have aluminum in it
Thanks! I think Rumford’s is aluminum free. That should help with any other purple fruit, such as blackberries and blueberries. They all have the same color changing pigments.
Update: I tried it again with aluminum-free baking powder and another fresh ube, grated. It was less green, but that might just be that my ube was a bit dried out. After the second skillet of pancakes, I added 1/2 teaspoon Ube extract and *now* they look like yours. I think the frozen ube may have extract added. Frozen blueberries turn green in pancakes, so I don’t think freezing is the difference.
★★★★★