I’m used to the fact that pancakes is a traditional breakfast dish that comes mostly in sweet varieties. I know that in Europe crepes that are also technically pancakes, are very popular and that they come with savory stuffings as often as they come with sweet ones.
These Chinese pancakes are more like crepes, fried thin and tender and traditionally served with roast duck and variety of veggie dishes and they are served as wraps for these vegetables.
Dipped in traditional Chinese sauces they are delicious and healthy and what not. Honestly, cooking these for lunch or dinner – or even breakfast when you feel like it, seems like a grand idea.
The tricky part comes with making them. Because traditional crepes are so very thin, the batter has to be very fine and runny. But handling this batter requires a bit of skill, as it’s easily breakable when you try to flip a pancake for instance. So, this pancake recipe doesn’t work with a very liquid batter, it works with a tough dough which your roll out.
The secret to making it is boiling water. It releases the binding agents in gluten quickly thus making the dough easily handled. All you have to do is carefully follow the mixing and kneading steps to make good dough that is not sticky or slimy, roll out and fry your pancakes.
They are great for a variety of stir fried or fresh vegetables, thin omelette, stir fried chicken or duck. Serve them with traditional Chinese sauces to dip, like hoisin sauce.
