Scallion pancakes are an Asian street food classic. They’re made of fried dough folded with scallions or green onions and toasted sesame oil, then finished with a vinegary ginger dipping sauce for a refreshing bite. Crispy and delicious, they’re a great dish to make as an appetizer or snack. Alternatively, spice up your Mexican-Asian fusion dishes by replacing tortillas with these super thin pancakes. Plus, they can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator for up to 6 hours, ready for frying whenever you need them.
Recipe adapted from seriouseats.com
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup hot water
1/4 cup toasted sesame seed oil
5 scallions
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 inch ginger root
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
neutral oil for frying (canola, peanut, corn, etc)
Photo by Parsa Lofti
Directions:
1. Add the hot water to the flour and stir with a spoon until clumps of dough start to appear.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
2. When the dough starts to look crumbly (like the picture above), move it onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes (until the dough is uniform in color and texture).
Photo by Parsa Lofti
3. Form the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature or up to eight hours in the refrigerator.
Photo by Pars Lofty
4. While the dough is resting, thinly slice your scallions. The thinner the slice, the better.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
5. When the dough is done resting, separate it into three equal portions.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
6. For each portion, roll the dough out onto a floured surface using a rolling pin.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
7. Lightly coat the dough in sesame seed oil.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
8. Roll the dough up.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
9. Form the rolled dough into a spiral.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
10. Flatten the spiral and roll it out again.
Photo by Parsa Lofti
11. Lightly coat the dough in sesame seed oil, and then spread out one quarter of the scallions onto the circle.
Photo by Parsa Lotfi
12. Roll up the dough, form it into a spiral then roll it out into a pancake like you did for steps 8-10. Repeat steps 6-12 for the other two portions of dough.
Photo by Parsa Lotfi
13. To cook the pancakes, fry them in the oil on each side for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
Photo by Parsa Lotfi
14. For a dipping sauce, grate the ginger. Then combine it with the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and remaining scallions in a small serving bowl.
Photo by Parsa Lotfi
15. Cut the pancake into wedges like a pizza and serve with the dipping sauce. Or use the whole pancake like you would a tortilla for Asian style tacos and quesadillas.
All the pancakes: