Canjeero: a Somali Recipe 🇸🇴

Inspired by the Olympics, we'll be posting a collection of recipes from the five continents. Here's an African favorite, taken from Chef Hawa Hassan's cookbook In Bibi's Kitchen.

Canjeero (Sourdough Pancakes) by Chef Hawa Hassan 🇸🇴

From In Bibi's Kitchen

Canjeero — sourdough pancakes — from In Bibi's Kitchen. PHOTO BY JENNIFER MAY

CANJEERO

Sourdough Pancakes

1 cup (250 mL) finely ground white cornmeal (see note) 1 tsp (5 mL) active dry yeast 5 cups (1.25 L) warm water 3 tbsp (45 mL) granulated sugar 2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder 1 tsp (5 mL) kosher salt 4 cups (1 L) all-purpose flour 1 tsp (5 mL) unsalted butter or canola oil

Step 1

Place the cornmeal, yeast and 2 cups (500 mL) of the water in a large bowl and stir together vigorously with a spoon. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature until small bubbles appear on top and the mixture has risen slightly, about 1 hour.

Step 2

Add the remaining 3 cups (750 mL) water, the sugar, baking powder and salt to the bowl and stir well to combine. Whisk in the flour until the mixture is smooth. Cover the bowl with the kitchen towel and let it sit at room temperature from at least 4 hours up to 24; the longer it sits, the more flavour it will develop. The mixture will have some bubbles on the surface.

Step 3

When you’re ready to cook the pancakes, place the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted and the skillet is hot, stir the batter well and ladle enough into the skillet to form a thin, even layer across the bottom, tilting the pan to coat the surface (the exact amount will depend on the size of your skillet but figure about 1/2 cup/125 mL). Use the rounded base of your ladle to swirl batter to make some circular grooves on the surface. Cover the skillet with a lid and cook until no liquid remains on the surface and the underside is barely golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer the pancake to a plate and repeat with the remaining batter (no need to add more butter after the first pancake). Stack the pancakes as you make them and serve them warm as they are or rolled up as in the photo.

Makes: 12 pancakes

Note: For the finely ground cornmeal, we ground regular white cornmeal in a high-speed blender in 10-second bursts until it was more finely ground.

Recipe and image reprinted with permission from In Bibi's kitchen by Hawa Hassan with Julia Turshen, copyright © 2020. Photographs by Khadija M. Farah & Jennifer May. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.