When you eat Mongolian barbecue, also known as Mongolian BBQ, Mongolian stir-fry, or Mongolian grill, some restaurants serve these special crepes that allow you to wrap up your stir-fry and eat it like a burrito. They’re like extra-thin tortillas, but with a more subtle taste.
These thin pastries are most commonly called Mandarin Pancakes, but also go by Moo Shoo Pancakes, Chinese Pancakes, crepes, or pancakes.
With only two ingredients, this recipe is relatively simple. But it does involve working with dough – and that will make it somewhat messy.
That said, it is easy to double or triple this recipe and then freeze the leftovers. Frozen crepes will keep for ages and heat up perfectly when you’re ready to eat them.
Lets begin.
First, you need to sift the white unbleached flour into a bowl. Since I don’t own a flour sifter, I used this strainer. It works nearly as well but can make a mess.
Next boil the water and pour it slowly into the bowl while stirring vigorously with a fork. You may not need the entire amount, but you want to get all the flour wet and turning into dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and begin kneading.
Once it’s good and mixed, gather the dough into a circular lump and cover it with a damp cloth. Allow to sit for 20-30 minutes.
Once it has rested for a while, go ahead and roll it into a log and begin by dividing the log into equal halves.
Now divide each half into more halves and do it one more time so that you now have eight equal balls of dough.
Roll these balls firmly in your hands until you have eight equal sized and fully round balls. Feel free to pinch bits of dough from oversized balls and add them to undersized ones. Just make sure to re-roll the dough afterwards.
Now re-flour the working surface and get out a Pint glass, or something else with a smooth circular flat surface. I also put some flour on the bottom of the pint glass.
Now press the balls, one by one, into 3 inch disks.
Once you’ve pressed the disks, take your sesame oil and coat the top side of a disk. I use a high-quality silicone basting brush like this one.
Next, place another disk on top of the coated one.
Now you’re ready to begin rolling out the dough. Take a rolling pin and start by gently rolling out from the center up and down. Next turn the rolling pin 90 degrees or turn your disk 90 degrees and then use the rolling pin to spread it out in the other direction.
Keep rotating and rolling the dough until it is spread very thin. You want your large flat crepe to be about eight to ten inches across.
Repeat this step until you have rolled all eight balls into four pairs of pancakes.
Next, place a large skillet over medium heat and allow to preheat for a minute. Next, place the crepes into the dry pan one pair at a time.
Cook for 1-2 minutes until small brown spots just start to appear. Flip and cook on the opposite side for 1 more minute.
Remove from pan and place on a plate to cool. Cover with a damp cloth.
After 20-30 seconds, the crepes will be cool enough to separate. Find the seam and carefully pull the crepes apart.
Repeat for all remaining pancakes.
Congrats! Your Mongolian grill crepes Mandarin Pancakes are ready to eat!
If you want to save some crepes for later, stack them with parchment paper between each layer and then place them in the freezer. When it is time to reheat your crepes, remove the parchment paper then place crepes into the microwave and cover them with a damp cloth. Heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute and serve.
Trying to recreate the full Mongolian barbecue experience at home? Then stay tuned because we’re making a full series about it. In the meantime, check out our extra-thick egg drop soup.
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Mandarin Pancakes
Description
These tender, thin crepes are just like the kind you’d get at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant. They’re perfect for eating with that Mongolian stir-fry, wrapping it up like a burrito or a taco. They also have the added benefit of reducing the heat when you’ve added a little too much spice.
Ingredients
1 cup white unbleached flour
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Sift flour into a bowl.
- Boil water.
- Pour water into flour slowly, stirring vigorously with a fork.
- Continue mixing flour and water until a dough is formed.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and begin kneading the dough.
- Once it is good and mixed, gather the dough into a circular lump and cover with a damp cloth.
- Allow to rest for 20.30 minutes.
- After it has rested, roll it into a log and divide it in half.
- Next, divide each of those two segments in half.
- Once again divide all segments in half. You should now have eight, equal sized, logs of dough.
- Roll these balls firmly in your hands until they are perfectly round with no seams.
- Press each ball into a 3-inch-wide disk.
- Brush the top of a disk with sesame oil, and place another disk on top.
- Repeat until you have 4 pairs of disks.
- Using a rolling pin, flatten your disks into 8-12 inch round crepes.
- Place a large skillet over medium heat and allow to preheat for several minutes.
- Place the crepes into the dry pan one pair at a time.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Flip and cook on the opposite side for 1 minute.
- Remove from pan and place on a plate to cool. Cover with a damp cloth.
- After 20-30 seconds, the crepes will be cool enough to separate. Find the seam and carefully pull the crepes apart.
- Repeat for all remaining crepes.
Notes
If you want to save your crepes for later, stack them with parchment paper between each layer and than place in the freezer. When it is time to reheat them, place them, still stacked with parchment paper into the microwave and cover with a damp towel. Heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute and serve.
It may be hard to pick up your crepes once they’ve been flattened with the rolling pin. If so, try to roll the crepe onto the pin and peel it off from there.
When you press the balls into a disk, I find it helpful to use the bottom of a pint glass.
Be sure to sprinkle flour as needed when you are working with the dough. It will help to avoid sticking.