Chinese Pancakes

What is nicer than a delicate warm pancakes stuffed with crispy sweet duck, crunchy cucumber, spring onions, all smothered in sweet hoisin sauce!

This is my all time favourite item on the take out menu, usually when I order take out I order extra pancakes, there can never be enough! Although sometimes I buy the ready to cook duck kit in the supermarket and once again there are never enough pancakes so this way allows me to have a many pancakes as I want, also the homemade ones taste so much better than shop bought!

These are also called Mandarin Pancakes and are used to accompany the afore mentioned crispy aromatic duck or Peking duck, however they can be stuffed with whatever vegetable and meat combination takes your fancy. These are much easier to make than you think and best of all they will keep in an airtight container for up 2-3 days in the fridge or in the freezer for one month.

Makes 24

Ingredients
340g Plain flour
300ml Boiling water
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp Oil

Method
Sift the flour to remove any lumps.

Slowly add the boiling water, stirring all the time with a fork or with chopsticks until all the water is added.

The mixture will appear to be dry but with some gentle kneading it will come together.

Once the dough is kneaded and is soft and elastic, place it into a clean bowl and cover for 30 minutes to rest.

Roll the dough into a long roll about 5cm in diameter. Divide the it into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten slightly on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 7cm round, brush the top of the pancake right to the edges with oil and set aside.

Continue in the same way with all your pancakes, then sandwich the pancakes into pairs, oiled side together. Roll out the 12 pairs of pancakes until they're 15cm in diameter.

Heat a medium sized frying pan over a high heat, rub a small amount of oil into the pan and fry the pancake pairs for 40-50 seconds on each side. 

The pancakes are cooked when small brown spots appear on both sides.

Carefully peel apart to separate and keep warm until needed. These pancakes will keep in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and can be frozen for up to one month.