Bonus Recipe: Scallion Pancakes

Today L. got hit in the face by a basketball during gym class. Because America is an unusually litigious country, he was sent home from school for the day to recuperate. He is fine except for a mild headache and some jaw pain but felt very strongly that only homemade scallion pancakes would make him feel 100%.

I had never made them before and substituted Japanese nira (garlic chives) for the scallions, which I didn't have. They were easy and delightfully crispy; not the usual little grease sponges that one orders from the nearest Chinese restaurant, delicious though those are.

Made 2 8" pancakes

1 cup flour + more for kneading and surface flouring

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup chopped scallions or nira

1-2 tsps sesame oil

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp black vinegar (or rice wine vinegar if needs must)

Salt

Mix the flour, hot water and a bit of salt together with a fork until they form a ball of dough. Put the ball of dough on a floured surface and knead a few times to make sure that the dough is smooth and not too sticky. Put back in the bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, mix the soy sauce and vinegar together to use as a dipping sauce. Put the sesame oil in a separate small dish.

When the dough has rested, flour your board or counter again and divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll the piece out into as thin a circle as you can without breaking the dough, about 8". You may have to flour again and turn it over if it starts to stick.

When your pancake is rolled out, dip a pastry brush in the sesame oil and brush the surface of the pancake lightly with it. To use the words of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt in the original recipe linked below, who explained this better than I could, "roll the disk up like a jelly roll, then twist the roll into a tight spiral, tucking the end underneath". Once you've done that, flatten the dough with your hand and then roll it out again. Brush the surface with sesame oil and sprinkle with 1/2 of the scallions. repeat the jelly roll/spiral/tuck/roll out process again so that you end up with an 8" pancake studded with green, Repeat the whole step to make another pancake.

Heat 1/2 of the olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add one of your pancakes to the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat the process with your second pancake.

Dust lightly with sea salt, cut into wedges and dig in. I managed 2 wedges; the rest were scarfed by ole Basketball face himself.

Original recipe, here.

#nibblesdipsandsnacks #vegetarian