One of the most popular dishes from the Chinese restaurant, aromatic crispy duck pancakes aren’t too difficult to make. This home recipe is healthier than ordering in and is perfect for a family dinner or even an evening dinner party.
Ingredients:
½ cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks
small bunch spring onions, shredded
Duck ingredients:
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 duck breasts (about 170g each)
Plum sauce ingredients:
5 plums, halved and stoned
50ml agave syrup
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
Pancake ingredients:
150g plain flour
rapeseed oil, for brushing
Method:
- To make the duck, pre-heat your oven to 180C (160C fan or gas mark 4). Mix the honey and five-spice in a bowl and brush over the duck. Transfer the suck to a roasting tray and roast for 25-30 minutes. Cool the duck for 10 minutes and finely slice.
- To make the plum sauce, put all the plum ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over a gentle heat for 15 minutes until the plums have softened and the sauce has thickened. Blend the sauce until it is smooth.
- To make the pancakes, add the flour to 125ml of boiling water and a pinch of salt, mix together so that it forms a dough. Once the dough is cool, knead it for 5-10 mins. Divide the dough in 10 balls and roll each ball as thinly as you can. Brush a frying pan with oil and cook each pancake over a medium heat for 2 seconds each side. Make sure the pancake is cooked, but not browned.
Serve. How you serve is up to you. You can serve everything individually so that your dinner guests can make their own duck pancakes. Or you can make the pancakes up yourself by dripping a little bit of plum sauce to a pancake, adding shredded duck and topping with cucumber and spring onion.