These Sweet Coconut stuffed Crepes are embarrassingly easy to make and really quite addictive. Just like Sri Lankan breudher cake, these are also perfect as tea time snacks. Happy New Year everyone! I’ve got an awesome recipe to kick start the year today. It’s a Sri Lankan classic that I loved eating growing up – called Pani Pol. The direct translation is honey coconut, but there’s no honey in this recipe. They are also called coconut pancakes in Sri Lanka, but these are not pancakes either. Technically they are crepes, stuffed with a sweet coconut filling, eaten as a tea-time treat. They are one of my favorite Sri Lankan desserts. Easy to make but hard to stop eating – these Pani Pol (Sweet Coconut Stuffed Crepes) are one delightful treat that I know you will love! Coconut and jaggery (a hardened block of sugar obtained from the sap of a type of palm tree called Kitul) are two important ingredients in Sri Lankan recipes. Pretty much every Sri Lankan household would have some form of coconut (coconut milk, fresh coconut, coconut oil etc.) at all times. A lot of authentic curry recipes incorporate coconut milk in the gravy, plus recipes like this coconut roti also heavily feature coconut. And same goes for jaggery. A lot of classic sweet treats use these two components quite a bit. See my cardamom spiced coconut custard recipe (watalappan) and cardamom spiced coconut ice cream for example. Alright, so let’s talk about these delicious sweet coconut stuffed creepes (pani pol) briefly, so that you know what to look for when making them.
The crepes
These crepes are traditionally made with a bit of turmeric spice to give them that classic yellow shade, but not so much for the flavor. Since it doesn’t add much in terms of flavor, you can leave out the turmeric for these pani pol if you wish. However, I decided to maintain the classic yellow color of these crepes while also giving them a nice flavor boost by using Saffron instead. If you do have some saffron at your disposal, go ahead and try it with these crepes, it’s definitely worth it! Or simply use turmeric for that striking color. If you have neither in your pantry, no worries, skip that step altogether. Fun Fact – crepes are often referred to as pancakes in Sri Lanka (at least when I was young). These Sri Lankan-style crepes are a tad different from regular fluffy crepes. They are slightly thicker than French crepes, but are incredibly soft with a rough, “bubbly” surface (as opposed to being smooth). To get that effect, the crepes are cooked in a pan preheated over high-heat, so that the batter bubbles up as it hits the pan. The cook time is also very short for these crepes – less than a minute for each crepe, so you don’t want to leave them unattended. It’s important that the crepes are soft, so that they can be rolled up easily, so overcooking and letting them become crisp is not an option. French crepes are known for having a smooth white surface, with little to no brown spots. These pani pol crepes however, DO have brown spots and that’s part of their charm! 🙂 The high heat of your pan will result in these crepes browning in places with bubbly spots. But like I said, that’s all in the appearance (browning does NOT mean crisp here), and they’re just as blissfully soft and delicious as French crepes, so you can make those for this recipe if you like. Want VEGAN CREPES? No problem, I have a vegan crepe recipe that you can find right here. Just pair those vegan crepes with the coconut filling here and you have awesome vegan sweet coconut stuffed crepes! Or how about chocolate crepes?
The coconut jaggery filling
If you do have access to freshly grated coconut, then you’re very lucky indeed! But if you don’t and can’t find freshly grated coconut (like me), don’t despair! I got you covered with this recipe. I will show you how to make this addictive coconut jaggery filling using either fresh coconut or desiccated coconut! Plus, if you can’t find jaggery, no problem. Just use muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar instead (you can check out my baking basics article on types of sugar for more information on jaggery and substitutes). For this recipe, jaggery can be substituted with muscovado or dark brown sugar in a 1:1 ratio (in terms of weight) without a problem.
How to assemble the pani pol
Assembling these sweet coconut stuffed crepes is also embarrassingly easy. You could even get your kids to help you out. 🙂 That way you can get them to fill and roll up the cooked and cooled crepes, while you’re cooking new ones on the pan. You can either fill the crepes with the sweet coconut filling and then roll ’em up like a wrap, or fill and wrap ’em like a burrito. Kind of like what we do with the savory version of these stuffed crepes called Sri Lankan Chinese rolls. I personally prefer the burritos because they just look a little fancier that way. 🙂 So there you have it. Easy and addictive Sri Lankan pani pol – soft, delicious crepes stuffed with a slightly spiced, sweet, nutty coconut filling. Just the way to start a brand new year.
