Japanese sweets
Rice Flour and Amazake Dorayaki with White Bean Paste
Soft, slightly chewy dorayaki pancakes made with rice flour, amazake and soy milk, filled with homemade white bean paste sweetened with maple syrup. No eggs and no white sugar.
- Serves
- Makes 4 (8 pancakes)
- Time
- About 30 minutes, plus about 2 hours for the bean paste (not including soaking)
Ingredients
White bean paste (about 400 g)
- Dried tebo beans (Japanese white beans) or other small white beans200 g
- Baking soda (optional)1/2 tsp
- Maple syrup100 ml
- Salta pinch
Rice flour pancakes (8)
- Rice flour (fine, for baking)120 g
- Baking powder1 tsp
- Maple syrup2 1/2 tbsp
- Amazake (rice koji)2 1/2 tbsp
- Unsweetened soy milk120 ml
To cook
- Rapeseed oila little
Method
White bean paste
- Soak the beans overnight in plenty of water. They will roughly double in size.
- Drain, put them in a pan with fresh water and bring to the boil over medium heat. Drain and discard the water.
- Return the beans to the pan with plenty of water and the baking soda. Simmer over medium-low heat for 40 minutes to 1 hour, skimming, until a bean crushes easily between your fingers. Top up the water if it runs low.
- Drain well. While still hot, press the beans through a sieve with a spatula to remove the skins.
- Put the sieved beans, maple syrup and salt in a pan over low heat. Stir without letting it catch, until it is thick enough for the spatula to leave a line. Spread on a tray to cool.
Pancakes
- Whisk all the pancake ingredients together until smooth. If the batter is stiff, add about 1 tbsp more soy milk.
- Heat a hot plate to medium (or a frying pan over medium-low heat), oil it lightly and pour in rounds 6–7 cm across.
- When small holes appear on the surface and the underside is lightly golden, turn and cook until the other side is golden too. Cover the cooked pancakes with a cloth so they do not dry out.
To finish
- Divide 200 g of the bean paste into 4, roll into balls and flatten. Place one on a pancake and top with a second. If you have a branding iron, heat it and press it on top.
Tips
- Amazake is a naturally sweet, alcohol-free drink made from rice koji. Look for it at Japanese grocery stores or online, or make your own. Use a thick, unsweetened rice koji amazake.
- Boiling the beans hard splits the skins and breaks them up. Keep the heat low and soften them slowly.
- The baking soda helps remove bitterness. You can leave it out.
- The bean paste keeps 3–4 days in the fridge and can be frozen in portions. Spread leftovers on bread, or loosen with soy milk for a warm sweet bean soup.
- Cover the pancakes with a cloth as soon as they are cooked to keep them soft.
- Rice flours absorb liquid differently, so adjust the batter with soy milk.
- Dorayaki are best eaten the same day. The next day, wrap them and warm gently to bring back the soft texture.
Dorayaki — two small pancakes around a sweet bean filling — are a classic Japanese sweet. Chie made this version for her son, who loves bean paste: rice flour, amazake and soy milk, with no eggs or white sugar. A branding iron (hers was a gift) gives them a bakery look.
See how to make amazake in Amazake with a Yogurt Maker, or learn to work with koji in UMAMI & KOJI LAB in Tokyo.
