Buttermilk Dorayaki with Sweet Red Bean and Butter
Japan's favorite sweet meets the American griddle: honey-buttermilk pancakes sandwiched around sweet red bean paste and a slab of cold butter, Tokyo café style.
Method
Whisk the eggs, sugar, honey and mirin for about 2 minutes, until pale and slightly thick. Whisk in the buttermilk. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt and whisk until completely smooth; unlike American pancakes, this batter should have no lumps.
Add in this stepEggs 2Sugar 45 gHoney 2 tspMirin 1 tspButtermilk 40 mlAll-purpose flour 100 gBaking soda ½ tspSalt 1 pinch
Cover the bowl and rest the batter for . It relaxes and then spreads into neat, round pancakes. Stir once before cooking; it should flow slowly off a spoon, like thick cream.
Heat a 26 cm nonstick or heavy frying pan over medium-low heat for . Wipe in a little oil, then wipe the pan again almost dry with a paper towel: a nearly dry surface gives the smooth, even brown look of dorayaki.
Add in this stepNeutral oil (for the pan) 1 tsp
medium-low heatTurn the heat down to low heat. Pour about 2 tablespoons (35 ml) of batter per pancake from about 10 cm above the pan, so it spreads by itself into an 8–9 cm circle. Cook for , until bubbles appear across the surface and the edges look dry, then flip and cook for , just until set. Cook in 3 batches and keep the cooked pancakes under a damp cloth so they stay soft.
low heatPair pancakes of the same size, browned side out. Spread a thick mound of red bean paste in the center of one, leaving the edge clear, lay on a 5 mm slice of cold butter, and top with the second pancake. Press the edges gently so they curve around the filling, then wrap each one in plastic wrap for 5 minutes so it holds its shape.
Add in this stepSweet red bean paste (chunky tsubuan) 160 gCold butter (for the filling) 20 g
Cook's tip
Cold butter against sweet beans is the point, so keep the butter in the fridge until the last moment. If the pancakes come out pale and blotchy, the pan is too oily; if they brown in under 1 minute, the heat is too high. Wrapped tightly, they keep for a day at cool room temperature.
Cooking it at camp
Bring the batter ready-mixed in a sealed bottle in the cooler, along with the red bean paste and butter. A nonstick pan on a camp stove at its lowest setting works well; pour from a squeeze bottle for even circles.