I remember Shanghai red bean paste-filled pancakes being a staple on the sweets trolley at yum cha back in the day, but I have to admit that I haven’t really seen them around in recent years. The good news is that they’re actually pretty easy to make, and apart from red bean paste, all you really need are flour and eggs, and oil for frying. I used my batch of homemade red bean paste from a couple of weeks prior (see recipe here >> https://jackiem.com.au/2018/10/25/how-to-make-red-bean-paste/ ) but you should be able to easily find canned versions at your local Asian grocery store (well, here in Sydney anyway)
Shanghai-Style Red Bean Paste Pancakes
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup plain flour
1 pinch salt
1 egg
approximately 1.5 cups water
1 ½ cups red bean paste
Oil for frying
METHOD:
- Combine plain flour, salt, egg and enough water to whisk to a runny batter.
- Brush a non-stick frying pan with oil; pour in a ladle of batter and swirl to make a thin crepe.
- Cook until it starts to lift, flip it and cook until both sides are done.
- Remove and repeat with rest of batter.
- Spread the centre of each crepe with 2-3 TBSP red bean paste, press into a thin rectangular shape, then fold in the sides of the crepe to enclose.
- Fill pan to about ½-inch deep with oil, heat, then fry the pancakes on both sides until golden brown and slightly crispy.
- Remove, drain on paper towels and allow to cool enough until they can be handled by hand.
- Cut into 6-8 pieces per pancake before serving.
