Adapted from Mlyntsi, the thin Ukrainian pancakes, after Yevhen Klopotenko's recipe

Mlyntsi from the store cupboard

An established dish converted to shelf-stable ingredients. Every substitution is documented below.

How long it keeps

About 6 months, set by Plain flour.

Indicative, for planning a build before you buy. The answer for a pack you already own is the best before date printed on it, and that only holds if it has been stored as the label says.

Serves
2
Burners
1
Pans
1
Water
0.1 L
Active
25 min
Total
35 min

Ingredients

In January 2024 the World Food Programme described families near Ukraine’s front line getting through the winter, some of them without electricity for days at a time. One woman, in the mornings, “bakes traditional pancakes, known as mlyntsi using WFP-supplied flour” (WFP). It is a small detail, and it is the whole idea of this site: a ration turned back into a dish someone grew up with. More in cooking through war.

Mlyntsi are thin, like crêpes, and eaten sweet or savoury. This follows the proportions of the Ukrainian chef Yevhen Klopotenko’s recipe, made with UHT milk and without the eggs.

  1. Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Pour in about a third of the milk and beat to a thick, smooth paste; this is how you avoid lumps.
  2. Beat in the rest of the milk a little at a time, then 2 tablespoons of the oil. The batter should be thin, like single cream. Leave it 10 minutes.
  3. Heat a frying pan, about 20 cm, over a medium flame and wipe it with oil.
  4. Pour in a small ladleful, about 60 ml, and tilt the pan straight away so the batter runs into a thin, even round.
  5. Leave it alone until the edges look dry and start to lift, about a minute and a half. Without eggs, turning too early is how they tear. Turn it and give it 30 seconds to a minute.
  6. Stack them on a plate as you go, and oil the pan lightly between each.

Serve them rolled or folded round jam. Condensed milk, honey or tinned fruit work just as well. For a savoury version, leave out the sugar and fill them with something from a tin.

Makes about 8, serving 2.

What this was adapted from

Mlyntsi, the thin Ukrainian pancakes, after Yevhen Klopotenko's recipe: 130 g flour, 340 ml milk, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp sugar and salt, cooked a ladleful at a time in a thin layer, about a minute a side

  • fresh milk → UHT milk, or milk powder made up with water

    Fresh milk is the first thing a power cut takes. UHT milk behaves the same in a batter; so does skimmed milk powder made up as the packet says.

  • 2 eggs → no eggs, a little more oil, and a 10-minute rest

    WFP's food boxes in Ukraine contain flour, oil, sugar and salt but no eggs, and eggs do not keep without a fridge. Without them the pancakes are softer and tear more easily, so the batter is rested, the pan kept well oiled, and each one left a little longer before turning.