Chicken Broccoli Crepes

The week after. Processing. The family processing together, separately, in the specific ways we each process. Arvind processes by working. He went to three job sites the next day, fixed four HVAC systems, and called me at 9 PM to say: "I fixed things today. I can't fix her but I fixed things." Appa processes by silence. He sat in his chair and read and didn't mention it. The silence was not absence — it was full, heavy, the silence of a man carrying something he can't put down. I process by cooking. I spent Saturday in Amma's kitchen — the intensive documentation continues, but this weekend had extra urgency. I documented her puttu (the steamed rice cake made in a cylindrical mold), her pesarattu (the moong dal crepe I discovered at that wedding years ago — Amma learned it later and made it her own), and her kori gassi (a Mangalorean chicken curry she learned from a friend thirty years ago and has since claimed as original). Thirteen recipes. In one weekend. My hands ached from writing. My heart ached from watching. Amma was present all weekend. No lapses. No "who is the man" moments. She cooked with authority, with the specific Lakshmi Krishnamurthy confidence that says: this is my kitchen, these are my pots, this food is mine. The good days are still the majority. The good hours outnumber the bad. The fortress is cracked but the cooking continues and the woman is still here, most of the time, most of the day. Dr. Mehta and I talked about anticipatory grief — the grief that comes before the loss, the mourning of someone who is still alive but leaving. "You're grieving her while she's still making you sambar," she said. "That's the hardest kind." The hardest kind. Yes. Grieving someone who is right here, making sambar, telling me the spirals are perfect, fighting the disease with labeled spice jars and a stubbornness that not even Alzheimer's can match. I made her sambar that night. In my kitchen. From her recipes, from her hands translated into mine. The sambar is the grief and the answer to the grief. Both. Always both.

I documented Amma’s pesarattu that weekend — the moong dal crepe she made her own — and I kept thinking about the fold, the way she wraps the batter around something warm and fills it closed. I couldn’t make her sambar in one breath and her pesarattu in the next without needing something to cook myself, something in my own kitchen that lived in the same shape as what she taught me. These chicken broccoli crepes are not her recipe. But the fold is hers. The care you pour into the pan, the way you tuck the edges — that’s hers too, translated into mine, the way everything eventually is.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

For the crepes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the filling:
2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded or diced
2 cups broccoli florets, steamed until just tender
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk, warmed
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Salt to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

Make the crepe batter. In a blender or large bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs, milk, melted butter, and salt until completely smooth with no lumps. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes — this relaxes the gluten and gives you more tender crepes.
Cook the crepes. Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet or crepe pan over medium heat and brush lightly with melted butter. Pour in about 1/4 cup of batter, quickly tilting the pan in a circular motion to coat the bottom in a thin, even layer. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the edges look dry and the underside is pale gold. Flip and cook 30 seconds more. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining batter, stacking crepes with a sheet of parchment between each. You should get about 10 to 12 crepes.
Build the cheese sauce. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds until fragrant. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute to eliminate the raw taste. Gradually pour in the warm milk and chicken broth, whisking constantly until the sauce is smooth and begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the cheddar, the black pepper, onion powder, and salt. Reserve about 3/4 cup of the sauce for topping.
Make the filling. Stir the shredded chicken and steamed broccoli florets into the remaining cheese sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Fill and roll. Preheat your oven to 375°F and lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish. Lay a crepe flat, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of the chicken broccoli filling down the center, and roll it up snugly. Place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with remaining crepes and filling, nestling them side by side.
Bake. Spoon the reserved cheese sauce evenly over the top of the rolled crepes. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar. Bake uncovered for 18 to 22 minutes until the sauce is bubbling at the edges and the top is lightly golden.
Rest and serve. Let the crepes rest for 5 minutes before serving. Scatter fresh chopped parsley over the top and bring the dish to the table warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken Broccoli Crepes — The Fold That Holds Everything