Recipe it up: Dorayaki

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: I still don’t know what Doraemon is, but I would totally party with him

When I was little and we would visit Taiwan, Japanese cartoon dominated the airwaves and I would see the one cartoon, where this character Doraemon would go absolutely crazy for what I now know was dorayaki. I have no clue what the hell Doraemon is, and according to wiki, he is a robotic type of cat. The Japanese think up some CRAZY stuff. 

 WHAT ARE YOU!!

Anyways, I thought dorayaki were just chocolate cookie sandwiches and did not realize until I actually had one that they are suppose to be filled with red bean paste. I can not recall the first time I actually had them but I do know they were from the Japanese mega-supermarket Mitsuwa, but I remember the first one that I actually remembered what it tasted like and why these Japanese treats were awesome was in a 7-11 Tokyo.

Going abroad, I like to go to the convenience store, especially the 7-11 to see what they got, and the ones in Asia and in this case Japan has 10x better food than we do. They have cakes, rice balls, fish cakes, noodles, hot dogs that eating at a 7-11 I would be perfectly content (sorry, folks, haven’t found a 7-11 taquito abroad yet!). But, I bought a dorayaki and I downed it like a fat kid sneaking a Snickers bar at fat camp. This is essentially a whoopie pie and I will say that these are the origins of the whoopie pie (Sorry Maine). The pancake is fluffy and tender and the smooth red bean paste is a great contrast to the sweetness. 

Although red bean paste in the traditional way to fill these suckers, in the picture or variations, such as a custard, curd, sesame paste or in my I call, the “white trash” rendition, filled with Nutella and Fluff which taste awesome. I plan to make these in the spring when I start to abuse the ice cream maker. The firmness of the dorayaki makes it a great vessel for ice cream!

Recipe after the Jump

This is to whip up, no need for a mixer, just use a fork/whisk or a good old spatula to get this going.

Dorayaki

100g of Unbleached All Purpose- flour

90g of sugar           

½ Tsp of Baking powder       

2 Eggs                        

1 Tbsp of Honey                    

1 Tbsp Mirin                      

2 Tbsp of Water

1 Tbsp of neutral oil

1. Crack eggs into large mixing bowl and beat until they are a pale yellow
2. Combine the wet ingredients of honey, Mirin, water and oil with the eggs and mix thoroughly
3. Mix in the dry ingredients of the four, sugar and baking powder with the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly**
4. Let the mixture set for about ½ hour and allow the glutens to rest.
5. In an oiled griddle/ non-stick frying pan, add 3 tbsp of batter and swirl pan to get a round about 2 inch circles
6. When bubbles start to form on the surface, it is ready to be flipped.
7. Carefully, turn the pancakes over and pan-fry other side for a few seconds until brown
8. Remove and repeat until all the batter is used up
9. Hopefully self explanatory, take 2 pancakes, place desired filling on one and top it off with the other pancake
10. Profit.

** Batter will be Cement thick, let it rest and it will lighten up but don’t be alarm in the thickness of the batter