If you want to know how to make those sweet banana pancakes sold at Thai street stalls, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll go through the recipe step-by-step, and you’ll soon be enjoying this delicious roti dessert. I am ready? Let’s go!
Banana pancakes are also known as banana roti or banana red tea in Thailand.
Despite their name, Thai banana pancakes have nothing to do with a typical fluffy American pancake. Instead, they’re like a cross between a stuffed French crepe and a crunchy Indian roti flatbread.
Thai-style pancakes are made with a rich egg-based batter rather than batter. The dough is left to rest for a few hours and then stretched very thin before being fried on a large hot pan.
The pancake is filled with ripe banana slices, folded like an envelope and finally baked until golden brown.
Thai food vendors then cut the pancake into bite-sized squares and drizzle with condensed milk or chocolate sauce. So good!
In the following steps, we’ll show you how to make banana roti batter from scratch, but with a few changes compared to the classic recipe.
Thai pancake batter is usually made with flour, eggs, butter, and condensed milk.
But because we wanted our recipe to be dairy-free, we substituted some sugar for condensed milk and vegetable oil for butter.
We’ve also replaced the condensed milk and chocolate sauce toppings with a healthier, non-dairy alternative: melted dark chocolate. It’s optional, but it makes the banana roti even tastier!
For the banana filling, you should use very ripe bananas so that they become sweet and creamy.
While we were in Thailand we made the pancakes with sponge cakes, small and fleshy bananas; but the classic Cavendish bananas will do the job just fine.
Oh, and if you want to try another delicious Thai dessert, we think you’ll love this Coconut Blue Mango Sticky Rice – perfect with a glass of Guava Pineapple Smoothie on the side!
Note: To make this recipe completely vegan, omit the egg and knead the dough twice as long.