Vegan Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing) - Chinese#BreadBakers

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).

Unlike the Western pancakes, this is made with dough instead of batter. The end result is a flaky flatbread. Pan frying the pancakes releases the aroma from the green onion and makes them irresistible.
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

Method

In 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, Flat Breads, Asian Cuisine, China

For Bread bake this month our host Wendy Klik asked us to share our favorite Chinese Bread recipes. 

• Chinese Buffet Style Donuts by Palatable Pastime
• Cocktail Buns by Zesty South Indian Kitchen 
• Hua Juan (Scallion Flower Rolls) by Magical Ingredients.
• Jujube Mantou by A Messy Kitchen 
• Nai Nai's Pork Bao by Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
• Pan Fried Pork and Scallion Buns (Sheng Jian Bao) by Karen’s Kitchen Stories 
• Scallion Flatbread by A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Tiger Biting Pig Buns - Lǎohǔ Yǎo Zhū Bāozi by Food Lust People Love 
• Vegan Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing) by Sneha's Recipe

#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.

Onion Pakoda/Bhajiyas#SundayFunday

Onion pakodas, also called onions fritters/ onion bhajiyas are a popular snack that is eaten all over India. It is super easy to make bhajiyas are crispy and crunchy onions mixed in chickpea flour and spices. Onion Pakoda is a famous street food from Mumbai. The key to making your best crispy onion pakoda is in the slicing, make sure that all the slices are uniformly.

When I was working on the way back from work, a small South Indian restaurant use make these bhajiyas in the evening and these were so irresistible that most of day's I used to pick up these for us to have as an evening snack.

In monsoons my mother would make different types of pakodas for us to have with our evening, chai and this is the world’s best combo ever! Even today when it rains heavily, I crave for a hot plate of pakodas, since my hubby doesn't like deep fried items often, I always wish someone would make them and give me to enjoy 😋!!

Serves 2
Ingredients
3 Medium Onions - thinly sliced
½ Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Besan / Chickpea Flour
1 Tablespoon Rice Flour
1 Tablespoon Chopped Corinader Leaves
1/8 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
¼ Teaspoon Red Chilly Powder
½ Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
1 Teaspoon Heaped Hot Oil
A Pinch Baking Soda
Oil as required for Deep Frying

Method  

Slice onions and transfer them to a mixing bowl. Add ½ teaspoon salt and mix it well, keep this aside.

Heat oil in the deep frying pan/kadai on medium low flame.

Let's make the batter while the oil is heating.
In a bowl add besan/chickpea flour, rice flour, cumin seeds, chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt, mix this well.
Squeeze out the water from the onions , add this squeezed onions along with coriander leaves to the chickpea flour mix and mix it by squashing the onions as it is getting incorporated into the mix. Do not add water. Leave this aside, till the oil is really hot, and the onions will release it's moisture into the batter. To check whether the oil is ready, take a little of onion, leave it into the oil, when added it should immediately float to the surface. The oil is perfectly ready to fry the onion bhajiyas.
                            

Take a teaspoon heaped of the hot oil, add the onion mix and mix it with a spoon ( this oil will make the bhajiyas, crispy and light). When well mixed add a pinch of baking soda and immediately give it good mix with your hands. Take little of the onion mix and leave it in hot oil on medium high flame, when all of the bhajiyas have risen to the surface reduce the flame and fry them on medium low flame till they are brown and crispy. Take one and check if the it cooked. When your are removing them with a slotted spoon then again increase the flame to medium high, this will prevent the bhajiyas from absorbing a lot of oil.

These onion bhajiyas are best enjoyed hot, when they start to get cold they will loose their crispiness!
Serve them immediately with some green chutney or ketchup! If you are like me, you will gobble it up as it is, they are so crispy and irresistible.

Labels: Pakoda, Bhajiyas, Besan, Deep Fried, Street food, Snacks, Sunday Funday, Serves Two, Vegan, Gluten free

For our event called Sunday Funday, wherein we share recipes our families will love to enjoy on a Sunday. Our host for this week's event is
Renu Agrawal Dongre of Cook with Renu 

Recipes with Chickpea Flour

• Airfryer Banana Crisps by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Onion Pakoda/Bhajiyas by Sneha’s Recipe
• Spiced Chickpea Flour Gnocchi with Spinach Coconut Sauce by Food Lust People Love
• Tawa Bread Pakora by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Vegan Chickpea Tomato Omelette by Cook with Renu
• Zucchini Fritters by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Baked Pork Enchilada Salsa Verde Casserole#BakingBloggers

I wanted to make something easy, so instead of making traditional rolled enchiladas made these no fuss casserole. Made this quick dish where in I just threw everything into a casserole.
Assembling the pork enchilada casserole takes little effort, as I simply layered the pork and rest of ingredient one by one and baked it. To save time, I made the pork and the Salsa Verde two days in advance and refrigerated it. I made the Fried Corn Tortillas on the day when I wanted to bake it. If you want, this, can be assembled well , in advance, as it reheats quite well, can assure you this, since I, had leftovers and reheated it after two days and it tasted just as good as the freshly made one.

Servings 2 -3
Ingredients 
250 Grams Pork Mince
1 Cloves Garlic - finely chopped
1½ Teaspoon Lime juice
½ Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt
¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper powder
1 Teaspoon Vegetable Oil
Other Ingredients
Salsa Verde
4 Corn Tortillas - torn
1 Cup Shredded Provolone & Cheddar Cheese
1 Small Onion- diced
¼ Cup Chopped Coriander/Cilantro leaves
Sour cream, for serving
For the Fried Corn Tortillas
1 Cup = 250 Ml
Ingredients
1 Cup Maize Flour
¼ Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt
1 Teaspoon Oil
125 Ml+ Water

Method

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pot/kadai, add minced  garlic and the pork mince, sauté till it changes color

add salt  and pepper powder , mix well

add ½ cup water. Bring the pot to a boil, and then turn the heat down to low and simmer uncovered for until the mince is cooked 

and all moisture nearly evaporated ( there should 2 - 3 tablespoons of liquid in the mince). 

Cool till it comes to room temperature add ½ cup of the Salsa Verde, lime juice and little coriander leaves . Taste for salt and spice, add more Salsa Verde if you want it more spicy. 

For the Fried Corn Tortillas

In a skillet, boil the water, add salt and oil. When it comes to a rolling boil add the maize flour and mix well with a spoon. Let it cook for a minute. Switch off the flame and cover it with a lid for 3 minutes. When it is still warm, knead this to soft dough, if required add a teaspoon of hot water while kneading. Knead it well into soft dough. Cover and keep it aside for just 5 minutes. 

Divide the dough into 5 equal balls. Roll each between a oiled plastic sheet in a tortilla press/puri maker. 

Cut it with a mould to make the edges smooth and tortilla the same size. 

Bake this in non stick skillet (See Notes) till it get brown spots on each side. 

Keep this on wire rack. Like wise make the rest of the corn tortillas. 

Wrap them in a towel and let them cool completely.
Heat up the vegetable oil on low heat in a small pan Use a pan that will fit the tortillas so that you can use a little to fry them).

Once the oil is hot add one tortilla at a time, and fry on medium flame till they are crisp. Keep aside to drain on a kitchen towel.

I even fried the broken tortilla pieces and used that to layer the casserole, since they are to broken into pieces.

To Assemble- Pork Enchilada Salsa Verde Casserole
Preheat the oven to 170°C.

In a casserole, place half of the broken tortillas in it, tearing in pieces to fill in any gaps. 

Evenly top the tortillas with half the pork, 

sprinkle half the diced onions ( I had 2 tablespoons of leftover red and green capsicum so used that too)

half the chopped coriander leaves, and and evenly spread the Salsa Verde. 

Then sprinkle the shredded cheese. 

Top that layer with remaining torn tortillas and then add the rest of the pork, 

the rest of the onions, capsicums, evenly spread the salsa,

sprinkle coriander leaves and then top evenly with the rest of the cheese.

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until the casserole is lightly browned and bubbling. Allow to rest for 10- 12 minutes before serving. 

Serve warm with sour cream and wafers.

My Notes
The pork and Salsa Verde can be made ahead of time and kept refrigerated for 3 days.

I baked the first tortilla on my anodized tawa and it got stuck see pic, so use a non stick pan to bake the tortillas.

Labels: Pork, Salsa Verde , Mexico, Mexican, Baking Bloggers, Corn, Tortilla, Baked, Enchilada, Serves Two, Main course, Green Tomato, Breads  

Baking Bloggers (April 2021): Baking of Mexico

• Baked Pork Enchilada Salsa Verde Casserole from Sneha's Recipe
• Bolillos from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Capirotada de Leche from Palatable Pastime
• Cheesy Corn Dip from Magical Ingredients
• Chicken Chili Tortilla Casserole from Food Lust People Love
• Creamy Caramel Flan from Making Miracles
• Mexican Chicken Bake (DASH Friendly) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tacos De Jocoqui (Sour Cream Tacos) from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Telera Rolls from Karen's Kitchen Stories