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Street pancakes
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour
- 1tbsp cornflour
- 1tsp sea salt
For the fillings
- vegetable oil
- 1 turnip, grated
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1/4tsp salt
- 1/2tsp sesame oil
- handful beansprouts, rinsed
- 3 eggs (optional)
- 10–15 raw peeled tiger prawns, deveined (optional)
- 4–5 romaine lettuce leaves,cut into 3–4 pieces
- 2 spring onions, cut into matchsticks
- handful salted roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
- handful crispy fried onions or shallots
To brush
- hoisin sauce, to taste sambal (see recipe, right), to taste
Sambal
- 4-5 large chillies, finely chopped
- 3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 lemon grass stalks, trimmed, bruised and finely chopped
- 1 thumb-sized piece galangal or ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 handful macadamia nuts or blanched hazelnuts, finely chopped
Method
For the batter, mix the dry ingredients together, then gradually whisk in 350–375ml cold water until you have a smooth batter the consistency of double cream.
For the fillings, heat 1/2tbsp vegetable oil in a wok or pan to a high heat, add the turnip, carrots, salt and sesame oil and stir-fry for 1 minute. Transfer to a sieve to drain and cool.
Blanch the beansprouts in a pan of boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove them with a slotted spoon, drain and allow to cool. Add the eggs, if using, to the water and boil for 8 minutes, adding the prawns, if using, for the last 3–4 minutes to cook through. Drain and cool under cold running water. Peel the eggs and roughly chop them, and cut the prawns in half.
Heat a dry non-stick frying pan to a medium heat. Add a 125ml ladleful of the batter to the middle of the pan and quickly spread it over the base with a brush to form a thin round pancake.
Cook without touching for 1–2 minutes until the sides start to crisp up and come away from the base of the pan. Carefully lift one edge with your fingers or a spatula and peel the pancake off the pan, transfer to a clean tea towel and cover with another tea towel. Repeat with the remaining batter, piling the pancakes on top of each other inside the tea towels as you go.
Lay each pancake in turn on a chopping board and brush with a generous amount of hoisin sauce and sambal, then add a couple of pieces of lettuce, followed by 1–2tbsp of each of the filling ingredients. Fold the pancake sides in, then fold the bottom up over the filling towards the middle and roll the pancake up. Slice in half and serve immediately.
Sambal :
Pound the sambal ingredients together using a pestle and mortar, adding them one at a time, or blitz them in a food processor to form a smooth paste – you may need to add a tbsp or so of water if using a food processor.
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