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Shredded Chicken Pancakes for Chinese New Year

This Friday lots of people will be marking Chinese New Year. It’s out with the old and in with the new and if you’re up for a spot of Chinese-themed celebrating, there’s plenty out there to be enjoyed. Last year we took the children into Chinatown in London to show them some of the Chinese festivities and symbols – red lanterns and flags, Chinese dragons and very loud drums. We also enjoyed a tasty Taiwanese meal in a surprisingly authentic restaurant called Leong’s Legend, which had a very simple interior (based upon a Chinese tea house) but some really great food and was much less busy than the main streets in China Town. Try the ‘pork buns’ or Taiwanese mini kebabs, as recommended by Jay Rayner in The Observer.

Shredded Chicken Pancakes

I’ve written about what we’ll be doing this year along with some recipe suggestions in my weekly blog for Jamie Oliver. In the meantime, I’ve also come up with a family-friendly starter – a simpler (and slightly healthier) version of crispy duck pancakes made with shredded chicken. I know, I know, it’s not authentic and there’s no crispy skin to feast on, but my kids are a bit picky when it comes to duck fat so I’ve gone with shredded chicken (from a leftover roast) instead. Thankfully, they like the Hoisin sauce and the building aspect of this for tea keeps them extra quiet.

Shredded Chicken Pancakes

I’m hoping to be able to pop into Chinatown at some point over the weekend to hunt for some more steamed buns and to stand by the windows watching homemade dumplings being crafted by hand.

Shredded Chicken Pancakes

Time for a little link-love. Firstly, I’m joining in with Extra Veg, a new monthly blog event hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy – lots of raw sliced carrots, cucumber and spring onions here. I’m also sending this to January’s Feel Good Food Challenge over at A Kick at the Pantry Door, which has a theme of tasty and inexpensive – this is both,  especially by using chicken instead of duck and adding lots of raw veggies. For the same reason, January’s Four Season’s Food Winter (co-hosted by Eat Your Veg and Delicieux) gets a hit too, with a theme of virtuous food – less duck fat! I’m also linking up to Credit Crunch Munch, also jointly hosted by Camilla at Fab Food 4 All and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours – leftover chicken, a substitution for duck and lots of veggies. And finally, to my own Simple and in Season – the carrots, cucumber and spring onions are all British and in season in January!

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Shredded Chicken Pancakes

Shredded Chicken Pancakes

Ren Behan
An alternative to 'cripsy duck pancakes' - this is a kid-friendly and budget-friendly recipe using leftover roast chicken and plenty of raw veg, instead.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Cuisine Asian
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g shredded leftover roast chicken around two breasts
  • Half a cucumber
  • 2 carrots peeled
  • 4 spring onions
  • 12 Chinese pancakes
  • 80 g Hoisin or plum sauce

Instructions
 

  • Shred the chicken with two forks - preferably whilst its still warm.
  • Finely slice the cucumber, carrots and spring onions and warm the pancakes slightly, if you like.
  • Set out the chicken, sliced vegetables and Hoisin or plum sauce. Fill each pancake with the prepared ingredients, roll up and eat.

Let me know if you get up to anything exciting for Chinese New Year!

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16 Comments

  1. Great idea Ren! And one I so shall be trying with my kids next time I have a little leftover chicken. To date they still haven’t experienced the joy that is a duck pancake! I agree kids love taking part in the assembly so this is sure to be a hit. Yummylicious! Thank so much for linking up to Four Seasons Food too, certainly more virtuous than duck.

    1. Ren Behan says:

      Thanks Louisa, as mentioned above, we did still sneak in some Chinese crispy duck over the weekend but yes, roast chicken is a little more virtuous and probably more realistic than roasting a duck at home.

  2. This is a great idea and fab for getting the kids to eat veg. The Glam Teens still love the sharing part of Chinese pancakes. GG

    1. Ren Behan says:

      We did make them with crispy duck too over the weekend, couldn’t resist, but this is at least a quick and tasty alternative. Thanks for the comment GG x

  3. This is a very good idea.

    Apparently it is really hard to make crispy duck from British duck too, many of the Chinese restaurants use imported duck.

    1. Ren Behan says:

      It is although I watched a Ken Hom in China programme who said it was a very particular breed of duck which now they are now breeding in the UK!

      1. These look great, thanks for sharing.

        Learn something new everyday, had no idea it was a special breed of duck for crispy duck.

  4. This is a brilliant idea Ren, a lot less hassle and a lot less fat!!! I reckon my boys would love this meal as they adore constructing their own food like tortillas and tacos.

    1. Ren Behan says:

      Thanks Katie, yes anything that keeps their little hands busy works well!

  5. 5 stars
    Clever idea! Never thought to transform leftover chicken into something as fun as this. I bet your children gobbled this up. Oh, and thanks for the restaurant recommendation. We have variable luck when dining in in this area of London. A restaurant may be fab one visit and atrocious the next. I trust Jay Rayner – and you. Those buns sound delish.

    1. Ren Behan says:

      Thanks Kellie, some lovely roast chicken (with crispy skin) is the best, it’ snot always easy to find (or make) crispy duck and the shop pre-cooked ones are not so nice. The steamed buns are amazing.

  6. These are a lovely simple idea – great for children, and I do like a tea that makes use of leftovers too. Really like the sound of your Taiwanese tea-house style place near Chinatown too, wanted a non-rip off place to enjoy the sort of oriental food I crave (due to the dearth of it in the Cotswolds) to try when we next visit London and this looks perfect.

    1. Ren Behan says:

      Thanks Andrea, hope you get to visit London again soon. The kids love anything that involves them building their own food!

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