Dorayaki or Japanese sweet red bean pancake is a popular, well-loved traditional Japanese confectionary made of two honey (castella) pancakes sandwiched in between a sweet aduki bean filling. You can find this almost everywhere in Japan and in every airport
It is also popular amongst fans of the children’s cartoon show “Doraemon”, a cat-like robot, who loves this treat! ! As kids, we grew up watching Japanese cartoon shows like Hello kitty and Doraemon. I first became familiar with this treat through Japanese TV shows and have always loved it. Our husbands’ in particular are also very fond of this treat (or anything red bean).
Today we are introducing a healthy, gf, df take on this childhood treat. I honestly haven’t one had in years now because it’s so hard to find one that is allergy free. For our version, we combined 2 recipes together – an oatmeal pancake base (a fibre rich version of the original recipe) and aduki bean filling recipe. We also opted to substitute in keto sugar or allulose to make this sugar free (but you can definitely substitute regular sugar!). To make this easier, our aduki bean filling is also made in an instant pot!
And most importantly don’t skimp on the red bean filling! We love heaping on extra to make extra yummy! Let us know if you like this version!
TIPS to make perfect evenly brown pancakes:
- Use a good quality non-stick pan!
- Make sure pan is hot enough otherwise it will not brown evenly. Perform the water test:
- How to do it: Lightly sprinkle a few drops of water onto the heated pan.
- What to look for: If the water sizzles and quickly evaporates, the pan is hot enough.
- Use a small amount of oil, just enough to coat the surface lightly. Use a kitchen towel to wipe away the excess to ensure an even distribution.
- Pour the batter in one go – if you keep going back and forth. to add more batter, the pancakes will not be evenly brown as certain parts will be cooked first.
- Always test with one pancake first!
- 80g store bought oat flour (Approx ⅔ cup) - Note: oat flour needs to be weighed out to get the correct consistency. You want to use store bought to create smooth pancakes
- 1 large egg
- ¾ tsp vanilla
- ¼ cup + 1 tbsp water (+ more to adjust)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 2.5 tbsp sugar (allulose)
- Filling: red bean paste (Recipe Below)
- In a bowl, beat egg, vanilla and water together.
- In a separate bowl, mix baking powder, salt, sugar and oat flour until well incorporated.
- Pour the wet batter into the dry and mix until smooth. Let the batter rest whilst you preheat pan.
- Preheat a good quality non-stick pan to medium heat. Lightly grease the pan and spread evenly. Wipe away any excess oil.(Note: there should not be any droplets. If you leave oil streaks on the pan, the pancakes will not turn into nice even golden color without spots)
- To check if the pan is hot enough, you can sprinkle water into the pan. If it sizzles before evaporating then you know it's ready. (if not, it will NOT BROWN evenly. I suggest to test with 1 pancake first).
- Pour in 1 heaping tbsp of batter into the pan for each pancake. Note: I like using a tbsp measuring spoon, to pour onto the pan to form evenly round pancakes.
- Cover and let it cook for 1-2 mins or until you see bubbles. Flip and cook for 20-30 seconds until cooked.
- Repeat until batter is finished. [I] Adjust consistency of batter by adding water before making the next batch since oat flour thickens with time. You want the batter to stay runny.[/I]
- Let it cool then spread on red bean paste to create your dorayakis!
- 1¼ cups dry adzuki beans
- ¾ cup sugar/ allulose (+more/less to taste)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- Rinse and drain beans using cold water until water is clear.
- Pour into instant pot along with 4 cups of cold water.
- Press the "bean" settings and adjust time to 25 mins. You want to cook it for 25 mins at high minutes.
- Once done, let it naturally release for 15-20 mins, before releasing the valve. Test the beans and see if its completely soft, if not cook for a little longer.
- Using a sieve, drain the beans. Pour beans back into the instant pot. Set on low saute mode and add in the sugar and salt. Sauté until you can draw a line through the adzuki beans and see the bottom of the pan.Note: if you want smooth red bean paste then at the end pour into food processor and blend until smooth.
- Remove and let it cool. Keep in airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.
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