Sichuan Danhonggao Recipe — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:00] My absolute favorite American food is  pancakes. Whenever I travel to the USA,   it will be the very first meal on the very first  day. Berries, lemon, chocolate, love it all.  

[00:13] But as much as I enjoy pancakes, there's also a  problem. Having one stack of pancake with just   one flavors? Sometimes… it can be a bit much. And  same with many American restaurant foods: for me  

[00:28] at least, many dishes are often centered around  one big thing. And halfway eating through it,   without a change of flavor, sometimes it gets  a bit monotonous. Maybe that's just my Chinese  

[00:42] mindset, but wouldn't it be great if instead of  one big cheeseburger or one stack of pancakes…   having multiple burgers with different flavors or  many pancakes with different tastes? Well, Sichuan  

[00:57] may have an answer to that question. In China,  we don't have anything exactly the same as the   American style pancake, of course, but in Sichuan,  there's something that comes pretty close.   It’s called danhonggao or egg baked cake. While  there's no milk, the rest are just basically like  

[01:14] an American style pancake. It's a mix of flour,  egg, leavening agent, and… not much else. But   unlike American pancakes, the Sichuan one can be  stuffed with a whole array of different feelings  

[01:27] with flavors ranging from sweet to savory to  spicy or all of them combined. So in this video,   we'll show you how to make danhonggao just like  how you will see it on a afternoon street cart  

[01:41] outside of a school in Chengdu, fillings and all.  And besides that, we'll also take those fillings   and put them onto some American-style silver  dollar pancake and see if that works too.  

[01:54] But let's go over the danhonggao first.  And step one in making danhonggao, is,   of course, the batter. Now, traditionally, this  batter uses Chinese laomian, which is sourdough   or natural yeast, and then adds baking soda to  balance out the acidity and leaven the pancake.  

[02:11] But for this recipe, I just want to keep things  simple and do a modern Sichuan homecooking style,   which instead of Chinese Laomian, we'll be using  a mix of yeast, baking soda, and baking powder.  

[02:25] So, first we'll melt 100g brown sugar with 190  gram hot water. Stir until the sugar is all   dissolved. And when the water gets back down to  room temperature, dissolve 2g or a half teaspoon  

[02:40] of osmotolerant yeast into it. Then, add two eggs  and whisk well until no stray strands remained.   Then sift in 200 g of AP flour, mixing it by  folding from the bottom and cut it back down  

[02:53] onto the center just like how you would mix  a pancake batter. Once it's basically all   mixed in like this, strain the batter through a  sieve just to make sure there's no big clumps.  

[03:05] Then cover and set this aside and let it ferment  for an hour. Then 1 hour later, come back, mix 2g   baking soda and 1g baking powder with 10g water.  Fold in our batter and then it's ready to make  

[03:20] some danhonggao. Real quick though, quick aside on  equipment. For this one, you'll want the smallest   possible pan you can get your hands on. I have a  little copper pen here that I got online, which is  

[03:34] the pan in making danhonggao. It's 15 cm wide and  smaller at the bottom. Chris was saying that a   Blini pan might work, but I also tried my hands at  this, the Vietnamese and Thai breakfast egg pan.  

[03:50] It's slightly bigger, but it just works great as  well. And even our 6 inch cast iron skillet works.   But because the surface is a little bit more  porous, so it will end up being a little bit  

[04:03] more oily and slightly less crispy on the edge.  But it's just subtle, you can totally use it.   Besides that, you will also want a pair of  tweezers, a folded paper towel that's dipped  

[04:15] in a minuscule amount of oil, and preferably a  rack to lift our pan slightly above the stove. So,   heat on medium low, then heat up the pan. And once  you can feel some warmth coming through, lift your  

[04:29] pan up and take that oiled paper towel and give it  a wipe. Then scoop in three tablespoons worth of   batter and quickly give it a swirl to create  that signature crispy thin ring on the edge.  

[04:41] Then let the batter evenly cover the pan. Cover  for 30 seconds. Then we can add in our filling.   For this one, we'll just keep it super basic  to just show you the techniques. So, we'll  

[04:53] just be adding in some Laoganma, which is a legit  feeling that they will use in Sichuan. Then cover   it back up and bake for another 30 to 45 seconds.  Remember to move the pan around to make sure it  

[05:06] heats evenly when baking. Once you see the edge  is slightly golden brown, using one end of your   tweezer gently slide it in between the edge and  the pan. Loosen it bottom, then fold it over onto  

[05:19] the filling. So then now we can just take it out,  put it onto your serving plate or alternatively a   paper box for that ultimate street food vibe. But  we do definitely need to expand on those feelings,  

[05:33] so this is what we whipped up today. Besides the  Laoganma that we just showed you, we also made   nuts and sugar, which is basically the OG sweet  feeling. Minced pork with Zhacai, that's another  

[05:45] classic. Minced pork with sour pickled long beans,  chicken with chili oil, and cream with pig floss…   and a fusion-y one with the Thai Nam Phrik  Pao chili jam, some mayo, and more pig floss.  

[06:00] So we'll show you these three right now but if you  want to know how to make all seven check out the   written recipes in description box. So let's  start with the savory one - pork and zhacai.   To make it, just take 100 grams of minced pork  and toss an quarter teaspoon each starch and  

[06:16] soy sauce together with a teaspoon white pepper.  Mix well and set aside. Then mince 20g of zhacai   preserved mustard greens into half centimeter bits  and set aside. Now, as always, longyau. Get your  

[06:30] wok piping hot, heat off and add in one heaping  tablespoons of oil. Then heat back on medium. Toss   in that 100g of minced pork. Break it up with  your spatula and patiently fry until slightly  

[06:44] golden brown and starting to release a little bit  of oil. At this point, toss in the minced zhacai.   Fry the two together for about 1 minute. Then heat  off and out. Filling number one, done. Then next,  

[06:58] let's show you the OG sweet filling. This sweet  filling you not only see at danhonggao, but also   in sweet Baozis or Cantonese deep fried flaky  dumplings. So to make it, all we need is sugar,  

[07:11] toasted peanuts, and toasted sesame seeds. So  first, toss 10 grams of your toasted peanuts into   a mortar. Roughly pound it into half centimeter  bits. Then add in 20g granulated sugar into it.  

[07:24] Quickly pound it together with the peanut. Then  finally add in that 10g toasted sesame seeds.   Another quick pound to break the sesame kernels.  And this is it: filling number two, done.  

[07:37] And finally, we'll have cream – naiyou  - and pig floss. And there's something I   should probably back up and explain. I call it  “cream”, naiyou, but the cream as they call it   in old school danhonggao was actually meringue  that’s steamed to set. But as whipped cream  

[07:54] got more and more popular, it became the “cream”  that you will get at many stands. And personally,   I prefer whipped cream to meringue, so this is  what we'll be using today. That said though, both  

[08:06] me and Chris hate the stuff from the bottle. So,  we will actually whipping our cream from scratch.   So, to make whipped cream, here we have 250g  or 1 cup of cold heavy cream. Add in 1 tbsp of  

[08:19] granulated sugar and teaspoon salt. First on low  to incorporate our sugar. Then, turn to medium   and whisk till we have a soft peaks. Then add in  1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and keep on whipping  

[08:34] it on high until we have a stiff peaks. And now  the whipped cream is ready to be used, keep it in   the fridge until you are about to assembled. As  for pig floss, you should be able to find it at  

[08:46] Asian supermarkets or online because it's a very  popular snack/ ingredients and many parts in Asia.   And now we have these fillings ready, so let's  make a couple more meringue. So, same as we showed  

[08:59] you earlier in the video, heat up the pan, scoop  in three tablespoons worth of batter in, cover   and let it bake on medium low for 30 seconds.  Then, put in the minced pork with zhacai. Cover  

[09:12] and continue to bake for another 30 to 45 seconds.  Carefully loosen the crispy edge, fold it up, and   take it out. Now for the mixed sugar and nut one.  We'll put the feelings in after it's baked for 45  

[09:26] seconds because sweet feelings goes in later.  Then a final 30 second bake and take it out.   As for the whipped cream, it needs to go in at  the very very end. So, at the 1 and a half minute  

[09:40] mark, shut off the heat, loosen the edge, transfer  the pancake to a plate. Then, sprinkle in about   one tablespoon of pig floss and scoop or pipe  in your whipped cream, about 1 tbsp worth.  

[09:53] Then, fold it up. And this is done. And now you've  got your various assortments of pancake fillings   just like how you would see on street carts in  Sichuan. So, then it comes to our other question.  

[10:06] Will those fillings work on American-style  silver dollar pancakes? Let's find out. So,   we'll have three categories of the feelings, which  is: (1) definitely works on pancake, (2) kind  

[10:18] of works on pancake, (3) not really works on  pancake. First up, the zhacai and minced pork.   So, for the zhacai and minced pork one, I think  it belongs to “kind of works on pancake”. It’s  

[10:31] slightly drier in this context with the  open faced silver dollar pancake. Next one.   This is the cream and pig floss. I  would assume that it will really work.

[10:47] Because whipped cream is already a  super classic topping for pancakes   and now you're just topping it with some extra  tasty bits. Of course, it will work on pancake.

[11:01] Now, this is the nuts and  sugar one. Smells good though.

[11:13] So the nuts and sugar one uh they taste like two  completely separate things. So yeah, it doesn't   work. I think it works in Danhonggao because  you kind of bake it a little bit more, so it   slightly melts. It's more moist. So for this one  that doesn't work. And now we have our Lao Gan Ma.

[11:37] Lao Gan Ma definitely works. Um my one suggestion  will be kind of spread it out a little bit so that   you don't just bite into one big chunks of  Lao Gan Ma. But yeah, definitely works. Great.  

[11:49] Okay. Now we have uh chicken with chili oil,   which is poached chicken breast coated  up in a classic Sichuan liangban   chili oil sauce. It's a very classic one in  Sichuan and it's one of the signature toppings  

[12:07] in that very popular stand outside of Chengdu.  So now let's see how it works on pancakes. As much as the chili oil with chicken is awesome  within Danhonggao, somehow in this context,  

[12:23] it kind of works but not as good as like the  really works one like Laoganma or cream and   pig floss. So my guess is that if you shred your  chicken into strings, it will work a lot better.  

[12:38] And this is the minced pork with sour pickle  long beans. Another classics for Danhonggao,   let's see how this is on silver dollar.

[12:52] The mince pork with pickle long beans really hits  that great sweet savory spot. So definitely works.   I think it works better than the minced pork with  zhacai is because pickled long beans, somehow,  

[13:05] there's a little bit more moisture. So when you  bite into it, there's like a little bit of a   pouch of flavor. All right, our last one, the Thai  Nam Phrik Pao chili jam with mayo and pig floss.  

[13:18] Um, we actually make this flavor  of toast in Thailand pretty often   and it's also a classic street snack flavor  there as well. So, let's see if this works.

[13:37] Yeah, this one works, because similar reason as  Laoganma. It's a sauce, but you kind of want to   spread it out a little bit more so that you're  not biting into big chunks. So, going back to  

[13:50] our earlier question, do these fillings work  on American style silver dollar pancakes?   And I think the answer is yes, they work  and works pretty well. And looking at it,  

[14:04] maybe we just reverse engineered Blini?  Maybe, but uh with Sichuan flavors.   Anyway, this is a super fun Sichuan street  snack… I hope you can get your hands on and  

[14:19] try it no matter on an actual Danhonggao or an  American-style pancake. So check out the recipe   in description box. A big thank you for everyone  that's supporting us on Patreon and subscribe for  

[14:31] more fun Chinese cooking videos. This is classic  and popular for a reason. ...Hayek?

[14:48] You have some on your nose, dude.