Vivian's Kitchen Adventures: Pancake

Shanghai Red Bean Pancake

The red bean pancake however was inevitable, unbelievably the filling of the homemade red bean paste was sweet enough, crispy and slightly chewy from the crust was a great combination. I immediately knew it will be one of my favourite, my new-found love for Chinese desserts caused of it delicious in its simplicity!

Today's dessert is inspired by classic Shanghainese cuisine, one of my personal favourites. These classic dessert was originated from Shanghai, customary served in many Chinese restaurants, mainly parts of Shanghai district. Nowadays, it can be seem in many Asian cuisine especially in a large wedding banquet and others joyous occasion. In Chinese cuisine, dessert is a necessity, a course that concludes a main meal. Normally, after 8 course sumptuous dinner they'll served these red bean pancake accompanied with some other sweet soup desserts (tong sui), peanut soup or snow fungus soup. Occasionally, when I come across these delicious pancake, I'll be ecstatic, honestly I hardly saw any! The special feature of these sweet treats is the red bean paste wrapped in crispy thin crust and topped with toasted sesame seeds.

Writing out this recipe on Shanghai red bean pancake does not come from my late grandfather but it's a special tribute to my late grandfather, Mr. Chaw Yew Sing who came from Shanghai, China. Growing up as I recalled vividly, my late grandfather was a kind and gentle man at heart, well-dressed, soft spoken, well-liked and respected by all. Truly inspired me to try and make one of the Chinese dessert from his origin. There are many kinds of Chinese desserts to prepared and choosing one can be hard, as they can be very complicated at times. It seem like a daunting task, nevertheless, I'm getting out of my comfort zone, trying to learned more about Chinese traditional cuisine as much as I can. Had my homemade red bean paste in my freezer, and instantly Shanghai red bean pancake came to my mind! Therefore, I'm making these sweet treats a special tribute to my late grandparents.

My late grandparents, Mr. Chaw Yew Sing and Mdm. Wong Eng, both were formerly headmaster in various Chinese High School in Malaysia and Singapore.

"Determination, hard work and perseverance has always been my late grandparents inspiring words, when looking back how blessed and thankful we are now."

I managed to acquire from my friend, Mr. James Wan an editor for Famous Cuisine that authentic Shanghai red bean pancake is actually non-flaky type. In Guangdong province, their version of red bean pancake are more towards the flaky crust, using two types of dough - a layer of water dough with another layer of oil dough. You'll come across these kind of red bean pancakes typically served in Chinese restaurants. I learned from Dimsumptuous's blog by adding glutinous rice flour in the recipe thus making it a bit chewy but still hold its crispy crust texture. I love to share my own little tweaks on the recipe by adding half amount of water and half amount of fresh milk. You can omit the glutinous rice flour and replace with bread flour or all-purpose flour.

Making red bean pancake from scratch is effortless, do give it a try and impress your loved ones!

Ingredients for Shanghai Red Bean Pancake.

Combine all wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well incorporated.

Add in grape seed oil into the batter and whisk again.

Whisk the batter until you have a smooth runny batter. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

Lightly brush the non-stick crepe pan and pour in the batter.

Rotate the pan around to spread out the batter evenly.

Add generous amount of red bean paste in the middle of the pancake.

Fold on four sides to enclose the red bean paste.

Add in extra grape seed oil or any vegetable oil and fry the pancake on medium-high heat.

Gently turn the pancake on the other side and press the pancake firmly with the spatula.

Fry until golden brown, remove from the pan and drain the pancake on kitchen towel.

SHANGHAI RED BEAN PANCAKE

Author: Vivian Tee
Yield: 2 pancakes (10" round non-stick crepe pan or skillet)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

60 gram of organic bread flour or all-purpose flour
40 gram of glutinous rice flour
A pinch of salt
1 medium omega egg (50 gram)
75 gram of fresh milk
75 grams water
1 tbsp of organic grape seed oil
240 gram of homemade red bean paste or store-bought
1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds (sprinkle)
Organic grape seed oil or any cooking oil for pan-fry and deep-fry

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.Making the batter:-Sift the bread flour, glutinous rice four and salt together. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and stir until well incorporated. Add in grape seed oil into the batter and whisk again until you have a smooth runny batter. Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes.

2. Making the pancake:- Lightly brush the non-stick crepe pan or a skillet with a thin layer of grape seed oil. *Turn the heat to medium and pour in the batter (about 125 grams) onto the pan. Quickly rotate the pan around to spread the batter evenly over the entire surface of the pan.

3. Adding the filling:- Once the batter is done, turn down the flame to low. Add in generous slab of red bean paste in middle of the pancake and form rectangle shape. Fold on four sides like folding the envelopes to enclose the red bean paste.

4.* Turn the heat back to medium-high and add in 2-3 tbsp grape seed oil and shallow pan-fry it till it turns to golden-brown on both side. Remove from the pan and drain the red bean pancake on the kitchen towels. Make another batch by removing the excess oil and repeat with the remaining batter.

5. Another method, followed step 2 and transfer to plate, keep it warm. Add in the red beans paste in the middle of the pancake and form rectangle shape. Fold on four sides and seal the edges with flour paste (2 tbsp of plain flour mix with 2 tbsp of water). Deep-fry or shallow pan-fry the red bean pancake, remove and drain on kitchen towel. For extra crispy crust, deep fried the red bean pancake.

6. Cut the pancake into 6- 8 slices, sprinkle the top with toasted sesame seed and serve while it is still pipping hot!

Note:-
* The medium to medium high heat is an approximation it depends on all stove-tops.

Recipe adapted from Dimsumptuos.

PRINT FOR RECIPE

Enjoy!

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In Chinese cuisine, Dessert

Homemade Red Bean Paste

Sweet Red Bean Paste - in chunky and coarse texture

Sweet Red Bean Paste - in smooth texture

Easy, simple and classic. These red bean paste is quite versatile can be found in any types of Chinese cuisine, Korean cuisine and Japanese confectionery shops The method of making these red bean paste is actually simple, made by boiling and mashing the red beans until well incorporated; and then sweetened with sugar and fat. They're two typed of red bean paste in all kinds of Chinese, Japanese and Korean pastries - smooth and chunky. A part of stirring and simmering non-stop for nearly 2 hours, making your own red bean paste from scratch is rewarding and you know exactly what ingredients are in it. You can either use your slow cooker or pressure cooker to cook these red beans. My version of making red bean paste is actually easy, the most traditional method not on the charcoal stove but on a gas stove. The actual steps are not that difficult, just time consuming but it's worth the effort. Truly a labor of love!

Personally, I preferred the taste of homemade than a store-bought but if you have no time to make one, feel free to use it. But of course, there's no comparison. Writing out recipe for red bean paste is a bit intimidating because it is all based on estimation, like we used to say in Malay language, agak-agak (approximate estimate). By making your own red bean paste, adding the amount of sugar in the paste can be less or more; this can be adjust according to your personal preference. If you're not sure about the amount of sugar, best to divide and add the sugar in two or three stages. Adding a bit of salt and using salted butter in the recipe, can actually enhance the flavor even more. Some preferred lard, vegetable oil or butter, this too can be adjust according to your preference. In my recipe I used both, butter and canola oil to make these red bean paste more flavorful and smooth. Making red bean paste from scratch no doubt is a lengthy process, but totally worth it. I'm sure you'll be amazed how simple and easy to make your very own red bean paste.

You'll want to double up your recipe which I did for two typed of red bean paste - smooth and chunky, and well-prepared your red bean paste in advance. With the convenience of ready made red bean paste, making Chinese steamed buns, Sweet rolls, Chinese pancakes or any typed of sweet desserts at last-minutes will be quick and easy. The possibilities are endless! It takes only half an hour to defrost your homemade red bean paste and in no time you'll be making your favorite pastries. If you've unexpected guests, you can easily make these red bean pancake in just under 15 minutes, that are sure to impress!

HOMEMADE RED BEAN PASTE

Author: Vivian Tee
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Total time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Yields: 1.5 kg (approximately)

INGREDIENTS:

500 grams of dried organic adzuki beans
1.5-2 liter of water (approximately)
3-4 pandan leaves (screw pine leaf)
220-330 grams of organic brown sugar (to taste)
3 tbsp organic molasses
80 grams salted butter
150 grams of canola oil
1 tsp of sea salt (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Wash and rinse your red beans. Cover the red bean entirely with water. Allow them to soak overnight.

2. Drain and rinse the red beans. Use a large cooking pot, add in the red beans and cover with water about 2" above the beans as they swell considerably whist cooking. Add in the pandan leaves and boil on the high heat about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover and simmer the beans for about 2 hours. Stir occasionally and add more water if needed. Cook until completely softened.

3. To insure your beans are done, use your ladle and press it on the side of the pot. If it mashed easily, it's done. Add in sugar, molasses, butter and salt, cook over low heat for another 10- 20 minutes until the liquid almost thickened and stir until the fat is incorporated. Add in canola oil and stir on low heat for 3-5 minutes until the paste thicken. *You can add more or less - butter, oil or sugar in your cooked beans, best to adjust according to your desired consistency and preference.

4. If you like your red bean paste chunky - on the cooking pot which the beans already cooked, mash the red bean using potato masher and cook the red beans paste over medium-low heat until it resemble to your desired consistency.
If you preferred the texture of the red bean paste to be more fine and creamy consistency, you can use a food processor or a blender and blend it until smooth. If you find difficulty to blend, add extra 1-2 tbsp of canola oil or softened butter into the food processor. Transfer the blended bean paste back to the same cooking pot and cook the red beans paste over medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes until the paste begins to turn glossy and smooth.

5. Set aside and let it cool before using. Red bean paste will be thicken once it cools down.

Notes:-

* Once the red bean paste has cooled down, divide it into small portions and store in freezer bags or air-tight container up to one month/

* When you need to use it, leave at room temperature. It takes about 30 minutes to defrost.

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Using some of the organic ingredients for making the red bean paste.

Red beans which have been soak overnight, drained and rinse thoroughly before cooking.

To begin, ensure the water level is about 2" above the red beans. Add in the pandan leaves and bring to a boil on high heat for about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and let it simmer for about 2 hours until the red beans becomes tender.

Add in 3 tbsp of molasses into cooked red beans for extra flavor.

In these recipe, I added salted butter and canola oil to make it more flavorful and glossy.

For chunky texture, use the potato masher and mashed up the red beans until it reaches to your desired consistency.

For the smooth texture, transfer the cooked red beans to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If you find difficulty to blend, add 1-2 tbsp canola oil or softened butter into the food processor.