Red Bean Paste Pancake | A Chinese Dessert Recipe

Pancakes(baobing) in Chinese cooking can be broadly divided into two categories – the thin and the thick. Traditionally it is the thin that will be used as accompaniments for many Chinese cai dishes, while there are several variations, both sweet and savoury, for the thick pancake.

Sweet bean paste is widely used as a filling for steamed buns(baozi), cakes and other desserts.  Red bean paste pancakes is a popular dessert served in most non Cantonese restaurants.  It is very easy to prepare and cook at home.

Recipe source – “The Chinese Kitchen by deh-ta hsiung”

Ingredients

• Pain flour – ¾ cup
• Boiling water – ¼ to ½ cup
• Vegetable oil – ¼ tsp
• Dry flour for dusting
• Red bean paste (store bought or home-made) – 4 tbsp
• Caster sugar to serve

Method

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Pour I the water very gently, stirring as you pour. Stir in the oil and knead the mixture into firm dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let stand for 30 minutes.

Lightly dust the worktop with dry flour. Knead the dough until smooth.  Then roll the dough into a long sausage, and cut into 4 equal sized pieces.

Roll each piece into a ball; flatten it into a disc with your palm. Dust the worktop with dry flour and roll out each disc into a thin (15cm) pancake with a rolling pin.

Place an ungreased frying pan over high heat. When hot, turn the heat to low and place the pancake. Remove when little brown spots appear on the underside.

Spread a pancake on a flat surface, and then spread about 1 tablespoon red bean paste evenly over the pancake’s surface.

Roll the pancake over the filling three to four times to form a flattened roll. Repeat the same for other pancakes.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan; reduce the heat to low and shallow-fry the pancake rolls until golden brown on both sides.

Sprinkle with sugar and cut each roll into 3-4 pieces and serve hot.