19, Aug 2007
Red Bean Red Rice Pancakes

I’ve been obsessed with my red rice and my spice grinder lately. After yesterday’s mostly successful experiment with broken rice, I started to wonder about going all the way and making rice flour. since it was morning, the natural direction was to make pancakes. red bean paste seemed like a natural addition, with its semi-sweet flavor and matching red color, and so RBRR pancakes were born. they were definitely a bit dense and heavy, but tasty all the same.



Ingredients
3/4 c red rice flour
1/3 c white whole wheat flour
1 c milk
1 egg
2 tbsp sweetened red bean paste
1 tsp freshly-ground cardamom
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
butter

Directions
if you’re making the rice flour, grind the rice in a coffee/spice grinder in small batches until powdered, maybe a minute each. put the milk and egg in a blender and add the flour. blend until smooth. add the red bean paste, sugar, cardamom, and salt to taste and blend until smooth. heat a skillet or two to medium and melt a little butter. pour the batter in and let it spread from the center to the desired size. cook for a few minutes, until holes begin to form and the top side is no longer wet. flip and give a few more minutes. stack on a covered plate. serve with butter, cinnamon-sugar, apricot jam, or whatever you like.
Verdict
these are definitely not light, fluffy pancakes. they’re almost flat and denser, more like a crepe, flatbread, or injira. my usual pancake recipe is the same but with white flour, and it’s a little lighter, but still mostly flat rather than fluffy (no baking powder). these had a very good flavor (though a little overwhelmed by the cardamom, which I’ll reduce or leave out next time) and the red color is really nice. they’re also really healthy; the red bean paste is pretty sugary, but it didn’t seem to add a whole lot and could probably be eliminated. I’d experiment with making these thinner (more milk) for crepes, either sweet or savory. I’m also thinking about using the same basic recipe (without the cardamom or red bean) as a flatbread, to stuff and serve soft taco style.