Pumpkin Pancakes
南瓜饼
English: Pumpkin pancakes
Chinese: 南瓜饼
Pinyin: nan gua bing
Literal: Pumpkin pancake/flat cake
Growing up in the UK, treating pumpkin as a sweet ingredient was an American novelty seen only in movies. In China, the lines are blurred even more. Sweet and savoury are not part of different courses, but rather, opposites to be balanced in a dish. Sugar finds its way into spicy stir-fries and salty pork is sometimes found on sweet pastries. Vegetables can be sweet or savoury depend on the mood of the chef. Tomatoes, corn, red bean, mung bean, peas, rice and pumpkin are all naturally sweet, and it often makes perfect sense to enhance those aspects for sweet juices, snacks and puddings.
This recipes uses only four ingredients: steamed pumpkin, glutinous rice flour, red bean paste and sesame seeds (and a bit of oil). Most Chinese kitchens have all of these bits lying around, so it’s a quick recipe using leftovers and store-cupboard basics. I cannot resist eating a few of these, piping hot, straight out of the pan when the rice flour is super sticky and the filling is oozing out. They are like a warm, flat mochi.
The only word of warning: I always find working with glutinous rice flour dough very annoying. It sticks to everything, especially wood, so have your dough scraper handy as you roll out the pancakes.
Makes 8 small pancakes
Ingredients
150g pumpkin (peeled)
150g glutinous rice flour
60g red bean paste
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
Method
Peel the pumpkin then thinly slice and steam it for about 8-10 minutes, or until it’s very soft.
Put the pumpkin into a mixing bowl then mash into a puree.
Add the flour into the bowl and mix with your hands until it comes together into a yellow dough.
Divide the dough into about 8 pieces (about 30-35g each). Use a rolling pin to flatten the pieces into small rounds about the size of a coaster (3-4 inches diameter).
Take ½ tablespoon of the red paste and place it in the centre of the pancake. Lift the sides up so they meet at the top and pinch closed, encasing the paste. shape into a small ball and set aside as you repeat with all the others.
Pour the sesame seeds into a bowl. Heat a wok or pan over a low heat with a drizzle of oil. Whilst the pan is heating up, flatten the balls of dough by pressing your palm down onto them. The dough does crack, but be careful not to split it open too much, you want to end up with a nice chunky round pancake but without too much red bean paste seeping out.
Dunk each side into the sesame seeds then place in the pan and fry on each side for about 3-4 minutes. Cook in batches, adding a bit more oil if you need.
Serve as quickly as possible. If you want to make ahead of time, you can always reheat them by frying again.
