Peking Duck pancakes were a highlight of my childhood. On anyone’s birthday we’d order Peking Duck at our favourite Chinese Restaurant in Eastwood and my Dad would always save me the crispiest piece of duck. Now I’m vegan and I’m so glad that Peking Duck pancakes are not only one of the easiest things to veganise, but also happens to be one of the vegan dishes that tastes ridiculously close to the real thing. The pancakes we’re making are a very very lightly pan-fried version today although traditionally there is also a steamed version!
VEGAN DUCK
So you’ll obviously need some vegan duck for this recipe (we’re not making the duck, just the actual pancakes). If you can’t find vegan duck, you could fry up some mushrooms or tofu but it honestly won’t be as good. The vegan duck I use is pretty much ready to go – all you need to do is fry until crispy and slice it up. I buy the Sayur/Lamyong brand. They are a Singaporean-Australian owned family business. Please try to support them and avoid the ‘Plantasia’ s*t at Woolworths – owned by a white guy and it just feels like a lot of gross cultural appropriation going on EURGH (I have lots of feelings about this haha but more on that another time). BUT ON WITH THE RECIPE!
Vegan Peking Duck Pancakes (春饼)
Vegan Peking Duck Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour (150g – I recommend weighing this)
- 1/2 cup boiling water (125ml)
- oil, for brushing and frying
- vegan duck, completely defrosted (I use 1.5 pieces of the lamyong duck for 10 pancakes)
- cucumber, cut into strips
- spring onion, cut into strips
- hoisin sauce
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour and boiling water using chopsticks or a wooden spoon until the mixture is dry enough to handle.
- Knead for a few minutes to incorporate all the scrappy bits of dough in the bowl, your bowl should be pretty clean once you’re done.
- Roll the dough into a ball, place it in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile you can cut your cucumber and spring onions into strips.
- Roll the dough out into a log and cut into 10 equal pieces. Cover with a tea towel to stop them drying out.
- Working with 2 pieces at a time, use the palm of your hand to press the pieces into small circles. Brush with oil on both sides so that they’re completely covered then stack the 2 pieces and flatten lightly again with your hand so they stick together. We are pressing two pieces together because after we cook them, we peel them apart and one side will be lovely and soft. Repeat for all pieces. You should have 5 discs at the end of this step.
- Using a rolling pin or wine bottle or tall jar, GENTLY roll each disc out into a 10-15 cm pancake – the seams don’t have to line up and they don’t have to be perfect circles!
- To cook, place a non-stick fry pan on low-medium heat and very lightly brush with oil. You don’t need much oil because there’s oil on the pancake.
- Cook pancake for 1-1.5 minutes on one side with a lid on, then flip and cook for another 1 minute and then stack on a separate plate. You should have lovely light brown spots on your pancakes! Repeat until all your pancakes are cooked. Place a lid or upside-down dish on the pancakes to keep them warm while you cook the duck.
- I like to cut the large duck pieces into 4 medium sized pieces so it’s easier to handle when frying. Heat some oil in a fry pan and fry each piece on both sides for a few minutes until both sides are crispy. Slice it up!
- Serve immediately with pancakes, hoisin, cucumber and spring onion! Peel a double-pancake apart, to get a pancake. Put a little hoisin sauce on it, place some duck, cucumber, spring onion, wrap and ENJOY!!!
