Chinese pancakes

By Lucie Lawrence

Recipe serves 6:

Homemade Hoisin Sauce

4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar or honey
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, finely minced
2 teaspoons sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon hot sauce (more or less to taste)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all together in a bowl.

Pancakes

Makes 24 pancakes
375g plain flour
225ml just boiled water

Mix the flour with water and knead it for about 10 minutes to form a dough. Roll them into small thin pancakes. Heat up a non-stick pan and gently dry fry, then steam for 2 minutes to reheat.

Julienne vegetables

You’ll need 2 pieces of cucumber and 5 or 6 leek strands for each pancake, so for 24 pancakes that’s about half a cucumber and the middle third of a leek. Peel the cucumber and cut it in half lengthways, then remove the soft part from middle and cut into matchsticks. Use the middle third of the leek, starting just before the top of white so you get a bit of white. Cut in half, wash, and shred finely.
Slow cooked Asian pork belly
1 bone-in pork belly with the skin scored (you can use boned instead if you prefer)
1 onion cut into large slices
2 carrots peeled and cut into 2 or 3 pieces
2 sticks of celery cut into 2 or 3 large pieces
100/200ml cold water depending on method

Marinade

1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
3 cloves garlic, finely minced/grated
thumb sized piece fresh, peeled ginger minced/grated
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Make sure the meat is completely dry and pat away any excess moisture with kitchen paper.
Mix together the marinade ingredients then spread evenly over the flesh side of the pork belly, working it into the meat.
Put the pork belly in the fridge then leave for at least a couple of hours or overnight.
To slow cook use the slow cooker or the oven at low temperature.

Slow cooker Method

Put the onion, carrots and celery in the bottom of the slow cooker put the pork belly, skin side up, on top of the veg and pour in 100mls of water and salt. Put the lid on the slow cooker then cook the pork belly for around 6-8 hours on medium. You may need to adjust the cooking times depending on your slow cooker model.
Oven Method
Preheat the oven to 150C. Put the veg in the base of a roasting pan or casserole dish and then place the meat on top with the skin facing upwards. Pour in 200ml water and season with salt then cover over the pan with foil. Put the meat in the oven and cook for around 3 hours or until you can insert the blunt end of a spoon all the way through the meat.

To crisp up, preheat the oven to 200C, transfer pork to a roasting pan then put in the oven to finish off for about 30 minutes or until you’ve got a nice crispy crackling top.
Cut into small slices and serve in your pancakes with the julienne vegetable and the hoisin sauce.