Crispy Red Bean Pancake

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Red bean pancake – a crispy, brown crepe hugging a layer of sweet, velvety red bean paste – is one of the desserts I like to order at Chinese restaurants.

It’s the perfect balance of sweet and savoury, and a great way to end your meal at a Chinese restaurant. Of course, yam paste will be another great way of ending a Chinese meal. It’s been a long while since I’ve had red bean pancakes, and so I was craving for some the other day.

If you prefer to make your own red bean paste, you can find the recipe here. But using store-bought red bean paste saves a lot of hassle so I would recommend using that.

I made red bean pancakes a few months back, but it wasn’t as crispy as I wanted it to be. I tried a new recipe this time round, and it was exactly what I was looking for.

This new recipe is guaranteed to give you super crispy red bean pancakes that’s as good as those in Chinese restaurants!

Unfortunately, I could only get my hands on tsubuan (coarse red bean paste) for this recipe video so my red bean pancakes don’t look that great. But trust me, it tastes better than it looks!

You’ll need two types of flour – plain flour and rice flour. Do not skip the rice flour because it’s what gives the pancakes its crispy texture! Do sieve the flour to get a smoother batter.

Use only egg white for this recipe. Egg yolk contains fat so it may reduce the crispiness of the final product.

In a bowl, mix plain flour, rice flour, egg white, a pinch of salt and water until evenly combined.

You’ll need at least 200g of red bean paste, but you can use more if you prefer more filling.

As I previously mentioned, I could only get my hands on tsubuan (coarse red bean paste) for this recipe but please do use koshian (smooth red bean paste) if you can!

I used a 24cm frypan for this recipe. And the batter will yield about 5 crepes.

Heat the frypan over medium-low heat till hot and grease with butter.

Scoop about 1/5 of the batter into the pan and swirl quickly to form a thin crepe.

Let the crepe cook until the underside is dry then flip it over. Cook the other side as well and remove when done. Repeat for the rest of the batter.

Spread about 40g of red bean paste (or more) into a thin rectangle on the crepe.

Fold the sides in and seal crepe with egg white or fresh batter if needed.

Deep fry red bean pancakes in oil. Press down the pancake or baste pancake with oil during deep frying to ensure even browning.

Remove pancake once browned.

Cut pancake into smaller rectangles or squares. You should hear a really crispy cracking sound!

 

Let the pancakes cool down a little before indulging in them. These were really so crispy and so good. I urge you to try this recipe for yourself!