Chinese mushroom pancakes

Description

This takes its inspiration from crispy duck and pancakes, but we're using oyster mushrooms instead - it really is brilliant.

Ingredients

100g/3½oz plain flour
100g/3½oz five-spice powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g/14oz oyster mushrooms
18 Chinese pancakes, 7.5cm/3in diameter (from Asian supermarkets)
1 cucumber, de-seeded and cut into 5cm/2in batons
6-8 spring onions, finely sliced
vegetable oil, for deep-frying
For the plum sauce
vegetable oil
2 shallots, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
splash of dry sherry
450g/1lb plums, stoned
100ml/3½fl oz vegetable stock

Method

1. To make the sauce, heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the shallots until soft.
2. Add the garlic and sherry, reduce a little, then add the plums and cook until they begin to break down. Add the stock and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer for five minutes, then pass through a sieve into a serving bowl.
4. Mix the flour and five-spice powder together with some seasoning. Toss the mushrooms in the mix, then shake off any excess.
5. Heat some oil in a large pan. (CAUTION: Hot oil can be very dangerous. Do not leave unattended.) Deep-fry the mushrooms in batches for about four minutes, until crisp and brown. Drain well on kitchen paper.
6. Warm the pancakes either in a microwave for 20 seconds or in a steamer over simmering water for one minute.
7. I like to pile the mushrooms onto one big plate, put the cucumber and spring onions on another and the pancakes inside the steamer. Spread a little plum sauce on a pancake, lay a strip of mushrooms down the middle, top with onion and cucumber, and roll up, tucking in the bottom edge. Guzzle down and make sure you've got extra pancakes on hand, because everyone will want more.