Chinese pancakes with duck, vegetables and hoisin sauce
Servings:
Ingredients
4 duck legs
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
3 cloves garlic in skin, crushed
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon juniper berries
250 ml white wine or vegetable broth
Pancake batter (20 pieces)
140 g wheat flour
125 ml very hot water
approximately 2 - 3 teaspoons sesame oil
Vegetables
a piece of leek (light green part), cut into thin strips
carrot, cut into thin sticks
cucumber (without seeds from the middle), cut into sticks
Homemade hoisin sauce
8 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 grated clove of garlic
4 teaspoons sesame oil
pinch of hot paprika powder
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Duck: heat the oven to 200 degrees. Prick the legs with a fork, sprinkle with salt, arrange on a rack or oven rack. Place a baking sheet on the lower shelf to collect the fat. Bake for one hour until excess fat renders out. Transfer the legs to an oven-safe pot, add thyme, garlic and ground pepper and juniper berries. Add wine or broth, cover and bring to boil. Simmer on low heat for 2 hours, then strip the meat from the legs and put it in a bowl or jar, cover with the remaining sauce. Cover and place in the refrigerator. The meat prepared this way can be combined with goose or pork fat and made into rillettes for spreading on bread. For pancakes, use just the duck meat, without adding fat.
Pancake batter: sift flour into a bowl and gradually pouring hot water, stir with a fork until ingredients combine. Turn the dough onto a work surface or counter and knead by hand for approximately 7 minutes (if the dough sticks, sprinkle some flour, if it is too dry - add a little water). Cover the dough with a damp cloth and set aside for 30 minutes. Once the dough is ready, spread it on a work surface and knead for 3 - 4 minutes, sprinkling with flour if necessary. Form a roll approximately 25 cm long. Cut into 20 equal pieces, from which shape small balls. Brush the balls with sesame oil and stack them together with the brushed side. Roll out into thin pancakes approximately 10 cm in diameter. Heat a wok or skillet and fry the pancakes on low heat for approximately 1 - 2 minutes until the bottom lightly browns, then fry the pancakes on the other side. When the pancakes cool, but are still warm, separate them into two parts (thanks to the "double" frying the pancakes are soft, properly moist and flexible). Reheat in a steamer.
Sauce: Put all ingredients in a saucepan and heat while stirring constantly (preferably with a whisk) until ingredients combine and the sauce is smooth. Mix half of the sauce with the duck meat, use the rest to assemble the pancakes.
Assemble the pancakes, arranging meat, vegetables and sauce in sequence.
