Min Jiang Kueh was one of my favourite childhood snacks! It is a thick yeasted pancake with a crispy rim, filled with sugared ground peanuts. Ever since I bought my cast-iron pan, I’ve been really looking forward to making this, but never found the courage to because batters and I don’t have much affinity. Having made it, I can now attest to how easy and satisfying it is to make Min Jiang Kueh from scratch.
Min Jiang Kueh
Serves 6
180g flour
60g egg
220g warm water (+80g water)
30g sugar
3/4 teaspoon dry yeast
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
10g butter
Peanut butter (as little or much as you want, or omit)
110g ground roasted peanuts mixed with 50g sugar
Whisk together flour, egg, 220g water, sugar and yeast. Allow to stand at room temperature to ferment for 1-2 hours or until the surface is dappled with bubbles and the batter appears slightly domed. Mix the baking soda, salt and baking powder in the remaining 80g water and whisk into the batter.
Heat a 25cm pan (cast-iron preferably) over low heat until a drop of water evaporates almost instantly. Grease the base of the pan with oil and wipe off excess with a paper towel. Pour the batter into the pan and instantly, with a spatula, push the batter up the sides of the pan to form a rim.
Cook over low heat until bubbles cover the surface of the pancake, the sides are brown and there is just a few spots of raw batter. Rub butter over the surface of the pancake before spreading some peanut butter if you prefer. Top with the peanut filling. Allow to continue cooking until a toothpick inserted into the pancake emerges clean. By this time, the sides would have dislodged from the pan. Fold the pancake in half and cut into wedges.