Pumpkin Pancake With Red Bean!

Hi! We have made these pumpkin cakes for many generations in my family. They are easy to make, don't need many ingredients, and retain that nice pumpkiny flavor along with a crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside texture!

1 Pumpkin (we used a pie pumpkin, which is a bit on the smaller side)

Red bean paste

Glutinous rice flour

Cooking Oil (Spray is better)

Optional: raisin, cranberry, nuts, or other toppings!

For a secret recipe at the end...

1 pie pumpkin

2 pie crusts

Cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

Step 1: Wash pumpkin, cut into chunks (you can leave the shell on for now), and remove pulps and seeds.

Peel off the pulp with a spoon.

Wash the seeds, then add some seasoning. Heat oven to 350F. You need to stir it every 5 minutes till dry. At 350F, it took about half an hour. 

Step 2: Steam the pumpkin till it is soft. It took about 30 minutes (after boiling). Take out and let it cool. Peel the shell off the shell with a spoon (It should be a lot softer).

Note: there are different ways to make pumpkin puree. Some people bake pumpkin chunks, then blend with a food processor. We found that it was hard to get the amount of water correctly this way. It is easier to steam pumpkin chunks and preserve the original tenderness. Another way is to use a microwave, this method will not have extra water as with steaming.

Weigh the amount of pumpkin you plan to use. Then add glutinous rice flour with amount desired (see image). Note that the weight ratio of pumpkin to flour various depends on how watery the pumpkin puree is. The more water, the more flour needed. It also depends on how easily you want to shape your pancake. If you want to make it into a certain shape so it sticks well that way, you will need to add more flour.

In our case, we are trying to use as little glutinous rice flour as possible to make it healthier. So, we add 20g glutinous rice flour in each time and mix. We add until the dough is ready to shape. It turns out our pumpkin to flour ratio was 5:1 by weight.

Mix well, and let it sit for at least 15 minutes

For each pancake: Take some pumpkin mix, about 20g, and flatten it in your palm. Make a dent and put in some red bean paste. Cover with more pumpkin mix. Smooth the cake then lay flat in the lightly oil sprayed pan. Repeat.

Tip: feel free to add raisin, cranberry, nuts, or other toppings!

Wait till the side touching the pan is firm and golden. Spray the top side lightly with cooking oil. Flip and bake till golden.

Since we did not use a lot of glutinous rice, the shapes of our pancakes are very freestyle 😊. But it tastes good and is very healthy!

Hope you enjoy! But wait...

Surprise! Follow steps 1 through 3 to make pumpkin puree.

Add 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger to taste (1/2 teaspoons at a time).

Pour into a pie crust (Most stores should have some). Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.