Dorayaki pancake with red bean filling

Each time I make red bean paste I end up with more than what I need. So I had to think of something to do with them. This time I thought of this pancake. Usually I do not buy them from the bakery but it seems quite neat to have homemade Dorayaki pancake. Sounds so professional! So I googled and found that they are not difficult at all yet it can make you seem like such a pro! The challenge here is to make perfect circles, the trick is to pour the batter into the pan from a good height. I keep forgetting to do this and my pan is not horizontal so they flow out of shape to become ovals. So take note and don't repeat my mistake!



Makes ~8 Dorayaki sandwiches (i.e.16 pancakes)

Adapted from justonecookbook, I so love Nami's recipes!
http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/dorayaki-japanese-red-bean-pancake/

Ingredients:

 
For the pancakes:
4 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. honey

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

 

For the filling:

1 bowl homemade red bean paste

Or you can use ready-made red bean paste for an easy fix

Or just use Nutella for a lazy fix!

 

How:

 

1) In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and honey and whisk well until the mixture becomes fluffy. Takes about 5 minutes.

 

2) Sift flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix just until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix so as not to work up the gluten else pancakes will become tough but do make sure there are no flour left. Keep in the fridge to rest for 15-30 minutes.

 

 

3) When you remove the batter from the fridge, check the batter consistency. It should be a little bit thicker than pancake batter, like heavy cream. If the batter is too thin, pancakes will be too flat and not fluffy.

If you have no idea what I am talking about (I also don't know because I don't make pancakes!) then just leave it as it is. I did.

If you fry one and it doesn't seem like what you like, add 1 tablespoon of water to the batter and try again.

 

4) Heat up a non-stick pan at low heat. Non-stick is important else your pancake will stick to the pan.

 

Important note:

This step really depends on your stove and your pan. Just try what works for you, you may have to waste your first 2-3 pancakes.

• Some recipes recommend med heat but for my stove this was too hot and burnt the pancake within seconds. So I turned down to low heat.
 
• Some recipes also recommend greasing the pan with little oil using a paper towel. The oil should be on the pan but not visible then you will get the smooth texture on the pancake. But for my pan no matter how little oil I grease I still get small bubbles and holes on the pancake so I did not grease at all and it turned out fine.

5) Make sure your pan is horizontal so the batter won't flow to one side. With a ladle, drop the batter from 6" (15 cm) above the pan to create 3" (8 cm) diameter pancakes.

 

6) When you see the surface of the batter start to bubble, flip over and cook the other side. You will need to 'dig' a little under the pancake with quick short motions to unstick it.

 

 

When you see this, flip over.

Note: You need a thin spatula for this.

7) The other side is so nice... Remove from pan after about a minute.

 

 



8) Before you fry the next one, use a paper towel to clean remainder batter from pan. Repeat this each time before frying the next one.

 

9) When you are done, add a generous amount of filling on one side of the pancake (the non-smooth side) and slap on one more to make your sandwich.

 

Your filling should be more moist than this.

10) If you are not eating immediately, wrap with cling wrap. Try to eat within the next day so that they don't have to go into the fridge. I find that the red bean gets dry even with the cling wrap if they go into the fridge.

Enjoy!