Peanut Pancake aka Ban Chien Kueh (慢煎糕)

One of the popular street food in Penang is Peanut Pancake. It is called Ban Chien Kueh in Hokkien (Chinese dialect). This is sold in the many street hawker stalls around the island. Peanut Pancake has a crispy crust with a sweet and buttery peanut filling. Sometimes cream corn is added. It makes a great snack. A friend gave me this recipe and after a few experiments and tweaking, I am more than happy to share this recipe with you.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/uiTcT7MkGXQ

INGREDIENTS (makes 5 pancakes)

Batter

• 60 gm self-raising flour

• 60 gm rice flour

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1/2 tablespoon fine sugar

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/3 cup milk

• ½ egg

• 20 gm melted butter

Filling

• ½ cup toasted peanuts (finely ground)

• 1/4 cup fine sugar

• Melted butter (1 teaspoon for each pancake; more if you like your pancake buttery)

METHOD

1. Sift self-raising flour, rice flour and baking powder together.

2. Beat egg, water and milk and add to sifted flour ingredients.

3. Stir until mixture is smooth and well combined. Strain batter through a sieve to remove lumps.

4. Stir in salt, sugar and then melted butter.

5. Set mixture aside for 50–60 minutes to rest. Cover with a tea towel.

6. Heat a non-stick pan (preferably with a thick base) over low heat.

7. Lightly grease the pan with a little oil. Clean off any excess oil with a paper towel. Add a drop of batter to the pan to test if pan is sufficiently heated through before taking the next step. The drop of batter should be cooked immediately.

8. Use a ladle (about 3 tablespoons) to add batter into the heated pan. Swirl the pan so that the batter forms a thin layer up the edge of the pan.

9. Sprinkle some toasted peanut and sugar mixture over the batter. Then drizzle a teaspoon of melted butter over it.

10. When batter starts to bubble, cover the pan with a lid and cook until the centre of the pancake is cooked through and the edge turned golden brown.

11. Slide the spatula around the edge of the pan. Remove the pancake and fold the pancake into half. Serve immediately.