Chinese Scallion Pancakes

Growing up I had a few favorites when it came to Chinese food. The big one being beef noodle soup. When I was working in Singapore my coworkers teased me for eating it almost every day for lunch while there. What can I say, its not something I can get where we live right now? The second is Chinese scallion pancakes. I love these things! Especially when they’re really really thin like tortillas and you can roll up stuff in them, for me its usually chicken & veggies. You can use it as a side in place of rice with stir fry and they make a fabulous lunch or dinner. Its also really good with some simple scrambled eggs.

My mom never made them homemade though. You can buy them in the frozen section of the grocer and they’re quite good (and usually only about $2 for 5-6). Even though most things are better homemade, I probably wouldn’t have tried making these except for the fact that our asian market has been out of them for months and months. So this weekend I went to work. I have to say these aren’t as hard as hard as I thought they’d be. Actually they weren’t very hard at all. But it did take more time than I anticipated to roll out all that dough. But you can’t beat this recipe. Its super easy and produces a fabulous scallion pancake!

Want a dipping sauce? We make ours from Chili Sauce with just a little soy sauce (probably 2 parts Srirachi to 1 part soy sauce). There are lots of recipes out there for dipping sauces that would be good with these. We prefer spicy to sweeter dipping sauces but here’s one for those of you who like those kinds of dipping sauces:

Ginger Dipping Sauce by Ming Tsai

1/4 cup thin soy sauce
1/4 cup Chinese Rice vinegar
1/4 cup sliced scallions
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c boiling water
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
vegetable oil
kosher salt

Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Slowly add water in a steady stream until incorporated and a ball is formed. The dough should be silky to the touch, not sticky. Allow to rest in a bowl for 30 minutes while covered with a damp cloth.

Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into 6 pieces of equal size. Roll the pieces into balls. Place a ball of dough on a lightly-floured work surface and roll out into a thin circle (as thin as you can get essentially). Spread a thin layer of oil evenly over the pancake (I use a pastry brush). Sprinkle salt evenly over the pancake. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of scallions over the pancake. Roll the pancake up from one end like a rug, then curl the roll around in a spiral and pinch the end to the roll so it stays wrapped. With the palm of your hand, press the roll from the top to flatten it. Roll the pancake out to 1/8th inch thickness. Heat a tablespoon of oil on a flat, wide pan over a medium-low to medium flame until hot. Set the pancake in the oil and let fry until the bottom is crisp and golden. Flip the pancake, adding more oil as needed. Remove from heat and serve immediately or reheat in the oven.

Source: Adapted from Use Real Butter

Tagged as: Chinese