Japanese Pancakes with Sweet Red Bean Filling (Dorayaki)

Hungry for more? This recipes was featured in a podcast episode!

---

This popular snack/dessert from Japan is made of two soft, golden brown pancakes made with a touch of honey sweetness. We sliced them in half and filled them with a homemade, sweet red bean paste (anko). The flavours in this are so good!

Prep Time: Beans (5min) - Pancakes (25min)

Cook time: Beans (1.5hrs) - Pancakes (30min)

Yield: 1 cup Bean Paste & 12 pancakes

Ingredients

Sweet Red Bean Paste

• 200g dried azuki beans

• water

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp salt

Pancakes

• ~4 eggs (200g total weight)

• 140g white sugar

• 30g creamed honey

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp sunflower oil (or any other neutral oil such as canola)

• 1-2 tbsp water

Directions

Sweet Red Bean Paste

1. In a medium pot, add the beans and enough water to cover them by about 2-inches. Bring to boil over high heat.

2. Turn off and drain the beans. Refill the pot with fresh water, again, covering the beans by about 2-inches & bring to boil again.

3. Reduce heat and simmer for 1-1.5 hrs or until they are soft. If the water level is too low, add some boiling water to keep the beans submerged while cooking. Test by pressing between your finger and thumb, they should smoosh easily.

4. Drain the beans using a strainer and reserve the cooking liquid. Let the beans cool and then transfer into a blender. Blend the beans, adding cooking liquid as needed, until you have an even and smooth paste.

5. Scrape the paste into a medium pot and add the sugar and salt. Heat over medium and stir until all the sugar is dissolved & the paste has thickened so that when a spoon is dragged over the bottom of the pot, the paste separates and exposes the bottom.

6. Allow to cool and store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in a refrigerator.

Pancakes

1. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar and honey with a whisk. Sift in the flour and baking powder and continue mixing to form a smooth batter.

2. Place the batter in the refrigerator to rest for 10-15min and prepare your pan.

3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-low for about 5 min with the 1 tsp of sunflower oil in the pan. Use a paper towel and wipe the oil around the pan to coat it without leaving large spots of it behind. Reserve the oily paper towel for later.

4. Remove the pancake batter from the fridge and gradually whisk in 1-2 tbsp of water as needed to thin it to a pancake batter consistency.

5. Use an ice-cream scoop to transfer batter into the pre-heated, oiled pan.

6. Watch the pancakes as they cook, when you see bubbles start to rise in the centre of the pancake and the edges are matte and starting to brown it is time to turn them over.

7. Wipe your spatula with the oily paper towel so the pancakes slip on and off more easily, they are pretty delicate.

8. Flip and cook on the other side & then remove to a wire cooling rack.

9. Wipe the pan with the oily paper towel in between batches.

10. Repeat until all your batter is used up.

11. Once cooled, slice the pancakes in half and spoon in 1-2 tbsp of red bean paste and sandwich between the pancakes.

12. Store at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator after that (if they even last that long!)

Zhuzh it up!

• The key to the evenly brown surface of the pancakes is the oil-wiped pan, so don't be lazy & make sure to do this step.

• If the red bean paste isn't your thing or you are having issues finding the ingredients, fill these pancakes with peanut butter & jam or custard or lemon curd or any other filling you like!

This amazing recipe was inspired by the Dorayaki (Japanese Red Bean Pancake) recipe on Just One Cookbook website.