Kaiserschmarrn with Rhubarb Filets

Oh rhubarb, you are so good to me! When I thought the other day, that it was time again to cook/bake something with rhubarb again (a thought that is recurring daily 😉 ), it came to my mind to prepare a German dish again – Kaiserschmarrn. It originates in Austria, but we also eat it very often in Southern Germany. And it was first when I moved to Denmark, that I realized it generally is not that normal to eat sweet dishes as main course! How do you survive?! Some of the best traditional vegetarian dishes in the German cuisine are sweet, and I wouldn’t want to miss them 🙂

Kaiserschmarrn are very fluffy, but still a little bit crispy pancakes, traditionally served with raisins, sliced almonds and powder sugar. You mostly eat them with fruit compote or preserved fruit. But there are also more modern versions like the savory vegetable schmarrn I prepared the other day. This time I decided to combine the sweet Schmarrn with the sour taste of rhubarb. And oh my, what a well-tasting decision that was! The fluffy sweetness of the pancakes, balanced with the sour taste of rhubarb and the crispiness of the hazelnuts – simply perfect 🙂

Ingredients (serves 1 as main course, 2 as dessert):

For the Kaiserschmarrn:		For the compote :
2 eggs		250 g rhubarb
170 ml milk		1 tbsp powder sugar
85 ml flour		2 tbsp water
40 g sugar
40 g butter
1 tbsp raisins
1 tsp hashed hazelnuts

Separate the eggs and put the egg whites back in the fridge. Mix egg yolks, milk and flour together until it turns to a smooth batter. Put aside and let rest while you prepare the rhubarb compote. Therefore wash the rhubarb stalks, remove the ends and cut all but 2 of them into pieces of about 1 cm. Cut the remaining two stalks into pieces of about 4 cm. Transfer all to a sauce pan add water and sugar and let simmer on low heat. After 5 minutes take out the filets (i.e. the large pieces) and let them cool down on a plate. Continue to cool the rest until completely softened, stirring once in a while.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and sift in the sugar bit by bit. Carefully fold the egg white under the batter. Melt the butter in a frying pan and transfer the entire batter to the pan, such that you get a thick pancake. When the pancake turned golden brown on one side, carefully turn to the other side and bake again for some minutes until golden brown. Then use the spatula to separate the pancake into rhombuses. Add raisins and hazelnuts to the pancake pieces and continue to fry for about 2 minutes. Serve with the rhubarb filets, compote and powder sugar.