How to Make Dorayaki Japanese Pancakes

February 12, 2014

Did you know it's pancake day tomorrow? It's not a holiday that the Japanese celebrate, but they certainly do love pancakes! There are two main types of pancakes that the Japanese love; traditional French-style crepes filled with anything from strawberries and nutella to tuna mayo, and Dorayaki, which are fluffy, 'American-style' pancakes filled with either chocolate or red bean paste.

Although we say 'american style', dorayaki were not brought to Japan from abroad - Dorayaki can be dated back to 1914! The story surrounding them says they were invented by a farmer - 'dora' means gong in Japanese, and apparently a visiting samurai left his gong at the farmer's house, the farmer then used the gong as a frying pan to cook pancakes, leading to their gong-like shape!

So if you're fed up of pancakes with lemon and sugar this pancake day, try out dorayaki instead.

You Will Need

4 Large, Free-Range Eggs
140g Caster Sugar
2 Tbsp Honey
160g Plain Flour (you can substitute 10g of this for matcha powder if you like)
2 Tbsp Water
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Vegetable Oil
18oz Sweetened Red Bean Paste or Nutella

Method

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and honey until you produce a smooth, pale mixture.
Now sift in the flour and baking powder, mix until just combined, then place in the fridge to firm up a little. This should take about 10 - 15 minutes.
Remove your mix from the fridge, and whisk in 1-2 tbsp water to produce a smooth, pourable batter.
Heat a large frying pan and coat with the oil. Then take a wad of kitchen paper, and being careful not to burn yourself, wipe away all the excess oil. This should leave a nice, thin even coating.
Take a small ladel of mixture, and pour into the pan. Try to keep the pancake round and only about 3" in diameter.
Fry until you start to see small bubbles form on the surface, then carefully flip the pancake over to cook the other side. Keep checking to see when the pancake is completely golden.
Make a whole batch of pancakes, then take two and make a sandwich with either red bean paste or nutella in the middle. You can also experiment with fresh fruit and cream!

Enjoy!