Did you know that Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day both fall on the same day this year? Since I featured a Valentine’s Day craft earlier this week, I thought it would be appropriate to feature a recipe in light of the upcoming Year of the Tiger!
Green Onion (Scallion) Pancakes [cong you bing] are one of my favorite Chinese breakfast/snack/side items. For those of you who aren’t familiar with green onion pancakes, think more tortilla or naan vs. IHOP. They’re pan-fried, savory discs of goodness that are a staple of Taiwanese street vendors. Every time I have green onion pancakes, my imagination zooms me back to those street-side carts.
My amazing MIL taught me how to make green onion pancakes a few months ago and I recently made them on my own for the first time! Needless to say, they weren’t perfect — they could have been a little thinner and crispier — but even average green onion pancakes are good green onion pancakes, in my book. There was another first for me, too — this was my first time using a stand mixer (hand-me-down from my MIL)!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 stalks green onions (or 3 scallions), minced
- 1/2 cup canola oil
Directions:
1. Mix together 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon canola oil and 1 cup of boiling water.
2. After the above is thoroughly mixed together, slowly add in the cold water a tablespoon at a time while continuously mixing. Make sure the dough doesn’t turn too sticky, you may not use the full 1/2 cup of cold water. (This is where I kind of messed up. I put too much cold water in, too fast. I ended up having to add my flour to the mixture so that it wasn’t so sticky.)
3. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 day (or at least 8 hours) at room temperature to let the dough rise.
4. Take handful sizes of dough and roll into circles (I was able to make 8 total circles).
5. Cover dough with sesame oil, salt, and green onions (allocate the ingredients evenly across the number of pancakes you make).
6. Roll dough into log and then coil.
7. Roll dough out into circle again so that the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in the dough.
8. Brown both sides of pancakes in a skillet with oil.
I was perfectly happy eating these plain but for the sauce lovers, here’s a suggested sauce you could dip these crispies in! YUM!
Dipping Sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup sliced scallions
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sugar
This is one of my favorite dishes too! I’m definitely going to have to make these!
These are Rob’s faves. Haha…it would be nice to try some from scratch for once.
These look AMAZING! I’m not too good in the kitchen, but I am definitely going to have to attempt to make these savory goodies!
new follower! I love these!! and I never knew the recipe until now I am going to definitely have to try this out ^^
These are really popular in Korea, too, but theirs were absolutely dripping with oil. Tasted good, though. 😀 Yours look delicious!
This is my first time at your site, and I must say how impressed I am. Not only is the photography beautiful, but I adore the site design. Absolutely lovely!
Can’t wait to explore more of your recipes and read your stories! Have you just started blogging?
ive never had these! they look like a great thing to take to school to munch on.
OMG! This is one of my favorite dishes! I used to have this in Shanghai when I was little every day! Thanks for the step by step recipe.
yum yum yum yum yum!!! i wish you were here so we could make and eat these together.
wow it looks PERFECT! The thickness is just right and prob has the right crisp + chewiness blend lol.
YUMMM! I love these!
Yum! I’m going to try to make these!
Looking forward to more of your recipes! 🙂
Mmm, yum. Definitely one of my favorite foods as well. My green onions always tumble out somehow at the end, though, when I’m rolling out the pancake…. we need to trade notes.
wish i could eat this post! i love green onion pancakes with tea 🙂 reminds me of relaxing weekends. the only bad thing is that the greasy onion smell permeates through the house. did that happen to you too?
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@Sophie we try not to fry these with too much oil so the house doesn’t smell THAT bad, hehe. i know what you mean though.. but it’s soo worth it for these delicious pancakes!!
I love these, especially with a tangy dipping sauce. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
i’m going to definitely make these for john!
these look so amazing… delicious! have a great weekend!
Oh wow these look amazing I think I’m going to have to try them tonight!
Sandy! Happy New Year! I tried the recipe and while my results were no where as good as when our parents made them, they sure hit the spot for me. 🙂 How nostalgic!
Keep the recipes coming! Very impressed.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! These are one of Dustin’s favorites.
Love your blog!
ok, another recipe i have to try!! thanks for posting these sandy!!
wow.. sandy. I’m just clicking thru your blog and i’m amazed. it’s great. cooking. sewing. fabulous finds. YAY. super. and NOW i will go and make some of these pancakes. i can already smell them out of the computer 🙂