A Culinary Trip to Asia - Peking Chicken Rolls

It's always fun to make your family assemble their own food.

Buy Mandarin pancakes at the grocery stores for the best results. Small tortillas or Boston or iceberg lettuce leaves also work well.

Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 250-gram (8-ounce) chicken breasts boned with skin on

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons dry mustard powder

16 Mandarin pancakes

1 head boston or iceberg lettuce

3 cups cooked rice noodles

½ cup hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 English cucumber, peeled and cut in strips

6 green onions, cut in 3-inch lengths

Method

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and sear, skin side down, for 2 minutes each side or until golden. Remove from heat. Place chicken breasts on a baking tray.

Combine honey, soy sauce and mustard, and brush over seared chicken breasts. Let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until juices run clear. Remove from oven and let chicken rest on a carving board for 5 minutes. Slice chicken into thin slices.

Heat Mandarin pancakes by following package directions. This was a little tricky ... I immersed the pancake in the water and it collapsed onto itself, not conducive to wraps.  So, I ended up using the biggest slotted serving spoon I had, and lowered the pancake into the water on it, gently removed it 10 seconds later and flipped it onto one of our dinner plates ... Steve helped to unfold any wayward edges.  If you had a "spider" scoop, it would probably work really well.

To serve, place lettuce on pancake, spread hoisin on lettuce and top with a couple of chicken slices, some rice noodles, cucumber and green onions, then roll up.