Duck Pancakes

Thin wheat pancakes rolled in pairs and steamed, then peeled apart.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour
• 150 ml boiling water
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil, for brushing between the pairs

Method

1. Pour the boiling water into the flour while stirring with a chopstick. Boiling, not warm: it cooks some of the starch, and a dough made this way rolls out thin without springing back.
2. Knead it for 5 minutes once it is cool enough to handle, then cover it and leave it 30 minutes.
3. Roll it into a log and cut 16 equal pieces. Press each into a small disc.
4. BRUSH ONE DISC WITH SESAME OIL AND LAY ANOTHER ON TOP, then roll the PAIR out together to about 16 cm. This is the whole trick: two rolled together go half as thin each as you could manage alone, and the oil keeps them from welding.
5. Dry-fry each pair in an unoiled pan over a medium heat for about 40 seconds a side, until they are just dry and marked with a few pale spots. No colour — browned pancakes crack when rolled.
6. Take each pair off and peel the two apart while they are still hot. Cold, they will not separate cleanly.
7. Stack them under a cloth and steam them for 5 minutes before serving, which makes them pliable again.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes