The Alphonso Mango Pancakes
Don’t you hate it when you crave something badly, and you wait until the weekend in order to have the time to eat it, and then when the weekend is finally there you drag yourself out of bed, half asleep and resisting the urge to go out for a drive in your rumbled pyjamas. You drive all the way to the restaurant, get your order, drive back home, set the table and wash your face and settle down for your long-awaited breakfast only to find out the most essential part of it was simply missing?
This is what happened to me on Friday. I was craving pancakes like mad, I’ve seen pictures of those seasonal mango pancakes served by The Cocoa Room all over Instagram and I really wanted to have pancakes for breakfast. Going to Cocoa Room wasn’t an option, cooking some myself at home wasn’t an option either because a) I hate my dark and dingy kitchen and b) I don’t have the pancakes ingredients, not even maple syrup at home so I opted for the easy way out: McDonald’s Pancakes! And what happened when the pancakes where finally on my table and I was ready to dig in? They forgot the maple syrup!
How on earth is it possible to forget maple syrup? Its like placing a burger inside the bag without a bun. OK, its more like placing fries without ketchup sachets but it is indeed a big deal. I almost cried right there in frustration, especially since I did not have maple syrup at home and if you say that honey is the same I’m going to pretend you do not exist. I had to improvise, and by improvise I meant to hit several birds with one stroke, or on a less aggressive note, feed several birds with one handful of seeds.
The Cocoa Room version calls for layers of pancakes, with mango pieces inside, topped with white chocolate sauce, coconuts, and more mangoes. Not a big fan of coconut myself, I decided to leave it out, create my own white chocolate sauce, and find something else to top my pancakes along with the mango pieces. I had two ripe juicy mangoes waiting for me to devour, I also had a small bar of Cardamom white chocolate from Rococo chocolates of London which I absolutely adore and thought would make a great sauce!
The sauce part was easy: I just melted the white chocolate and cardamom bar in the microwave then added a hint of low fat milk and stirred thoroughly. I suppose I could have added some cream to make it more luscious but I do avoid cooking with cream at all costs. Next, I’ve peeled and chopped the two fleshy mangoes and all that was left was to layer the pancakes with plenty of mango chunks, some crushed pecans and pistachio slivers, then top the whole thing with the white chocolate sauce and sliced mangoes.
Et voila!
It was as easy as one two three! No maple syrup? No problem as long as you’ve got mangoes and chocolates in the house!
And it was good! The cardamom was an interesting touch, although I could have made do with another bar of white chocolate for the sauce itself. The cardamom and the pistachios gave this dish a hint of a traditional and Ramadan-esque feel to it, I cannot wait for the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan this June if god grants us to live until then.
Not only did I have one marvellous breakfast, I also turned the table around and changed the lack of maple syrup to my advantage. This is how it went:
Bad thing: McDonald’s forgot Maple Syrup.
Good things that happened because of that bad thing:
I still ended up having pancakes for breakfast.
I turned the boring old pancakes into my own inspired version of Cocoa Room’s pancakes.
My pancake version had no coconut, which I don’t like.
I found a new way to incorporate mangoes into my breakfast
I had a nice post with decent pictures to publish on my blog. Had I had the good old Mcds pancakes I wouldn’t be here typing this up.
You see what I mean? New positive approach to life and all that! Lesson of the day, when life forgets your maple syrup, bring out your mangoes and enjoy the ride 
