Green onion pancakes (Cong You Bing) are a breakfast and snack staple in China and Taiwan. The green onion, also called the scallion or spring onion. This green onion an herb that’s indispensable in Chinese cooking. A scallion pancake is a Chinese savory, unleavened flatbread/pancake with oil and minced scallions (tender green onions).
Hot water is used to gelatinize some of the gluten in the flour making a soft flaky pancake. Scallion pancakes are also a street food of China. Though these are called scallion pancakes, they are actually more of a flatbread than a pancake. Made from unleavened/non yeasted dough that’s rolled into layers (like parathas ) with scallions and fried in sesame or peanut oil, they’re crisp and flaky on the outside with a soft, chewy center. To give it a healthy twist I have used half whole wheat flour.
These can be had without any dipping sauce, but, we enjoyed it with Sweet Chili Sauce.
Makes 4 pancakes
Ingredients
For the Dough
4 Teaspoons Sesame oil
1 Cup All Purpose flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat flour
¾ Cup Hot Water
½ Teaspoon Salt
For The Filling
6 - 7 Scallions /Spring Onions - finely chopped
½ Teaspoon Salt
Vegetable or Sesame oil as required
MethodIn a bowl, add the flour, salt and boiling water. Mix it with a spoon on until the dough comes together. Take the dough on to a work surface, knead until the dough is smooth and not super sticky. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. Chop the scallions finely, keep them aside.
On a well floured surface, cut the dough into 4 equal-sized pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball. Using plenty of flour to keep the dough from sticking, roll one of the balls out into an a big circle. Brush just a teaspoon of sesame oil onto the dough and use a pastry brush to spread it around evenly. Evenly distribute a little of the chopped scallions on top of the dough and then sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Roll the dough as if you're making flaky parathas / cinnamon rolls. Then hold the two ends of the rolls and lightly tap it on the work surface to stretch it a little longer.
Wrap the rolled dough around itself so it looks like a snail shell/coil, pinching the ends. Flatten out the coil with your hand and roll out to a thick circle. If you want your pancake to have more crunchy surface area you can roll it out thinner, but in doing this the layers in the dough you just created will fuse together and start breaking at the edges. So the pancakes should be a little thick. Repeat the same method with the rest of the dough to make the pancakes.
Heat a a heavy bottomed frying pan over medium low heat with a tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, place the pancake on it and let is cook until just brown spots start to appear on the bottom side, then flip and fry the other side for another few minutes or until golden spots appear on it.
Keep flipping and pressing the pancake till it's golden on both sides, smear a little oil as your are flipping, to gets a nice golden crust on top.
Be careful not to have the heat too high, otherwise the scallion pancake will burn before it cooks through. Fry the rest of the pancakes, by adding another tablespoon of oil to both sides of the pancake. As the scallion pancakes are cooked, transfer them to a paper towel lined to drain any excess oil. They are all ready, serve hot.
Serve hot with a little bit of soy sauce or Hot chili sauce or sweet chili sauce and a some chopped scallions to either of the sauces you choose to enjoy it with.
Labels: Appetizer, Breakfast, Chinese, Pancakes, Scallions, Street food, Flatbread, Asian Cuisine, China
For Bread bake this month our host Wendy Klik asked us to share our favorite Chinese Bread recipes.
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.
