dorayaki

Ever have leftover pancakes? Well, there is an easy Japanese treat that you can make with them. It is called dorayaki (literally sweet bean paste between two pancakes).

Dora in Japanese means gong. Some say that dorayaki is called this because it resembles a gong. Others say that it is because it was cooked on top of a gong. In Kansai, it is also called mikasa because it resembles Mt. Mikasa in Nara. The first dorayaki was apparently made in the Taisho era. The pancakes that are used for dorayaki resemble castella--a sweet Portugese, part sponge cake-part pound cake from the Castilla area brought to Nagasaki in the 16th century.

Since I don't have much time on weekday mornings to make pancakes for breakfast, I usually make them the night before then re-heat them for our breakfast in the morning. While I was making them the other night, I remembered that I had some leftover sweet bean paste, so I made two extra dollar sized pancakes (actually a little bigger) and made myself a dorayaki.

Depending on the kind of pancake you make will determine how sweet your dorayaki will be. The pancakes I made didn't have any sugar in it, so the sweetness came only from the sweet bean paste. It was the perfect snack!

If you can't get sweet bean paste, don't like it or can't have it, you can also fill it with apple pie filling or even nutella--the combinations are endless!