Peking Duck Pancakes

When you prepare Peking Duck, apart from cucumbers, spring onions and Hoisin sauce, you also need special pancakes to serve the dish. If you don’t have time, you can buy them in a Chinese food shop. But if you don’t have such a shop nearby, you can make the Peking Duck Pancakes at home. They are pretty easy to prepare, you will only need some time as they are made from a dough and require rolling. The good thing is they can be rolled and fried in pairs (see the instructions below) so the process can be speeded up.

INGREDIENTS (for approx. 24 pieces):

225g flour plus extra for dusting,

5 tbsp boiling water,

6 tbsp cold water,

sesame oil.

METHOD:

1. Put the flour into a big bowl, make a well in the center, pour the boiling water and mix it with the flour.
2. Gradually add the cold water and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined.
3. Work the dough (with your hands) for approx. 5 minutes, then cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 20 min.
4. Dust a surface with a bit of flour and roll the dough into a long “sausage”, cut it into 20-24 pieces and roll each piece into a flattened ball.
5. Pour a bit of sesame oil into a saucer.
6. Dip one flattened side of the ball in the sesame oil, repeat with a second ball and put together the oiled sides of 2 balls.
7. On a lightly floured surface roll the merged 2 balls into a 12cm in diameter pancake.
8. Fry it on a small non-stick frying pan on both sides for a very short time (they shouldn’t even start getting brown spots).
9. Repeat with the rest of the balls.
10. When pancakes are cool enough to handle, separate each one into 2 thin pancakes (you will see on the edge where both are merged and gently pull them apart starting from that point).
11. Keep them covered in the fridge till needed or they can be prepared earlier and frozen.