Fried Spring Onion Pancake Recipes

SCALLION PANCAKES

Steps:

• Sift the all-purpose flour into a big bowl and then add the salt and chicken bouillon powder (if using) into the flour. Combine well and set aside.
• Heat the water to a boil. Slowly add the water to the flour and knead the dough until it becomes soft, no longer sticky and the surface becomes smooth and shiny, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too dry, add 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of water to the dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Add the scallions into the dough and combine well.
• On a flat and floured surface, divide the dough into 8 small dough balls, as pictured.
• Working with one dough ball at a time, roll it to a thin disc using a rolling pin. Dust the rolling pin with some all-purpose flour as you go. Brush the surface of the pancake with the oil.
• Roll the dough into a cylinder.
• Coil it up like a snail.
• Dust the rolling pin with the flour and roll the snail-shape dough until flat, measuring about 6 inches (15cm) in diameter. Set the dough aside on a baking sheet. Repeat the steps above for the rest of the dough balls.
• Add about 1/4 inch (6 mm) of oil into a stir-fry pan or skillet over moderately high heat. Transfer a piece of the pancake onto the pan or skillet.
• Shallow fry each side of the pancake to a light golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip the pancake over and shallow fry the other side.
• Add more oil, repeat the same for the remaining pancakes and serve immediately. They are best eaten with warm and homemade soy milk.

CHINESE SPRING ONION PANCAKES

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine finely chopped spring onions and Chinese green onion with sesame oil and white pepper (if using). Set aside.
• Measure out plain flour into a large bowl. Sprinkle 3/4 tbsp olive oil over the surface. Drizzle a little water over the surface of the flour (do not be tempted to pour), no more than 2 tbsp of water each time. Using a pair of chopsticks (do not use your hands), start mixing the flour with the oil and water. [mv_img id="1374"]
• Keep drizzling roughly the same amount of water into areas of loose flour, mixing until it has been absorbed, before drizzling more. The flour will increasingly become curdled and resemble scrambled eggs. Keep scraping flour off the sides of the bowl back into the dough mixture. [mv_img id="1376"]
• Repeat until all the loose flour has been absorbed, including the bits of flour sticking to the sides and bottom of the bowl. Once the dough begins to come together, and no longer sticks to the sides and bottom of the bowl, do not add any more water even if you have not used all of it. At this point, use lightly floured hands to gather the dough into a ball in the centre of the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth. Set aside, covered, for 30 minutes. After the required time, divide the dough into two equal portions. [mv_img id="1377"]
• On a lightly floured surface, using flour-dusted hands, lightly knead one portion for about half a minute or so, until the dough is smooth and springy to the touch. [mv_img id="1380"]
• Gather back into a ball. [mv_img id="1381"]
• Roll out into a large, round dough sheet about 3-mm in thickness (lightly dust your counter surface with flour wherever dough starts to stick). [mv_img id="1383"]
• Pour 1 1/2 tbsp of the olive oil in the centre of the dough sheet. [mv_img id="1384"]
• Using both hands, bring in sections of the dough from the edges (perimeter) towards the centre, one section at a time. [mv_img id="1386"]
• Without letting go, dab lightly on the oil to coat the overlapping surfaces, and return the section to the perimeter. [mv_img id="1385"]
• Repeat this all around, until the entire surface area of the dough sheet is evenly coated with oil. [mv_img id="1387"]
• Sprinkle half of the sea salt, evenly, all over the oiled dough sheet. Spread half of the filling in an even layer over the dough sheet, leaving about a 1-cm or 1/2-inch border. [mv_img id="1388"]
• Starting from the bottom right corner of the dough sheet, start rolling the dough. [mv_img id="1389"]
• Work towards the opposite top left corner (again lightly dusting the dough with flour in places where the dough sticks to the surface) [mv_img id="1390"]
• Once completely rolled up, coil one end into itself and under the rest of the roll, such that the end is in contact with the counter surface. [mv_img id="1391"]
• Then turn the rest of the roll round on itself, coiling upwards like a spring coil, as you turn. As you reach the other end of the roll, turn or tuck the end in, into the coil, effectively sealing it. [mv_img id="1393"]
• Flatten the coiled dough by applying controlled pressure with the palm of your hand (do not slam or punch down). [mv_img id="1394"]
• Using light pressure, so as to try to keep the chopped onion bits enclosed, roll out into a 1-cm or 1/2-inch thick pancake. Always roll from the centre out to the edges. Transfer to a lightly floured dish. [mv_img id="1398"]
• Repeat these steps with the remaining dough portion, so you will have two pancakes. [mv_img id="1399"]
• Heat up some olive oil a large skillet over low heat. Once oil is hot, place one pancake in the centre of the skillet. Cover with lid, and let fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the side is cooked and pancake is a lovely, speckled golden brown colour. Flip the pancake over, cover with lid, and pan-fry for another 2 to 3 minutes, until side is cooked and golden brown. Do not be tempted to add more oil. [mv_img id="1400"]
• When cooked, turn off heat. Using a pair of grip tongs, grip the centre of the pancake and turn it upright so that it is on its side. While gripping it, lightly knock it on its side, onto the skillet base, to loosen or 'open up' the layers within the pancake. Place it back down in the skillet, and repeat until the pancake has been 'knocked' all around its sides. When done, dish out onto a serving plate. [mv_img id="1401"]
• When done, dish out onto a serving plate. [mv_img id="1403"]

CHINESE SCALLION PANCAKES

Steps:

• Mix salt with all purpose flour.
• Prepare a large mixing bowl. Dig a small hole in center and then pour the hot water in. Wait for 10 minutes and then stir in the cold water and vegetable oil. Grasp everything to form a ball, cover and rest for 5 minutes and then knead until very smooth (around 3-5 minutes ). The dough should be quite soft. Cover the rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
• After resting, the dough should be quite easy to roll out. Divide the large dough into 4 pieces and roll each piece into a large around circle. Brush some oil, sprinkle Chinese five spice power and chopped scallion (leave the 1 cm of the edge empty).
• Roll up the circle into a cylinder. And further roll into the shape of a snail. Cover with wet cloth and rest for 10 to 15 minutes.Roll the snail out to another thin circle.
• Brush some cooking oil on the pan and move the circle into the pan. Use middle fire to pan-fry until the surface becomes brown around 2-3 minutes. And turn over to fry for another 1 to 2 minutes. Use a spatula to press the circle from time and time especially the central part to ensure the circle is evenly fried.
• Remove the circle out and cut into wedges.

PAJEON, KOREAN SPRING ONION (SCALLION) PANCAKE

Steps:

• Mix the soybean paste with about 1 tablespoon of the water to lighten.
• Place everything into a bowl and mix it all up with a handheld whisk or wooden spoon until you get a smooth batter. Set aside.
• Clean the spring onions and cut them in half, we will be using the whole thing, white and green parts.
• I like to slice them in half lengthwise too, but that's completely up to you. It does depend on the thickness, I don't bother with the thin ones.
• Heat the oil in a medium frying pan on medium high heat.
• Add the spring onions to the hot oil in roughly, a rectangular shape, and leave them to cook for a minute.
• Pour the batter all over the spring onions, covering them completely. You can leave the batter in the shape of a rectangle, following the spring onion or cover the whole pan, as I do, bearing in mind, that the edges of the circle doesn't have any onions.
• After 2-3 minutes, the top of the pajeon will no longer be runny, the batter would have started to set. If the edges are browning too much, lower the heat to medium. Cook for another 2 minutes, then very carefully, using your widest spatula, flip the pajeon over to cook the other side. Use a second spatula to hold the top to help you flip, if you have trouble. The other alternative is to slide the pajeon onto a plate, place the frying pan onto the plate and flip the whole pancake back into the pan.
• Cook for a further 3 minutes or so, until you have a crispy pancake on the bottom side too. Lift to check.
• Slide onto a plate and slice in little squares and serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

CHINESE SCALLION PANCAKE-SIMPLIFIED VERSION

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, stir water to flour and keep stirring with an egg whisk. Make sure that the water and flour is combined completely. Set aside for several minutes.
• Go to the scallion, finely chopped and throw into the bowl with flour and water. Add pinch of salt and five spice powder; continue to stir until everything combined well.
• Heat up around 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a pan (either big or small, it does not matter). Scoop the mixture and pour into the pan. When pouring over the mixture, do not place all of them in center, swirl it evenly by rotating the spoon to make a basic round pancake. And then use a smaller spoon or your pancake turnover to make the pancake as well distributed as possible. Pan-fry over medium fire for around 2-4 minutes until one side becomes golden brown. Turn over carefully to fry the second side for another 2 minutes. Then fry each side another 1 minute for a darker color and crisper taste.
• Transfer out and then absorb the extra oil by kitchen paper. Repeat to finish all the pancakes.
• When serving, as I usually make larger ones because of time issue, cut into small wedges and enjoy with family.

FRIED SPRING ONION PANCAKE

Steps:

• Boil 1 cup of water; Add 1/4 cup of cold water to the boiled water.
• Put 3 cups of flour into a large bowl; Slowly pour approximately 1 cup of the hot water into the flour and stir the bowl while you pour.
• Knead until all of the flour in the bowl has joined the dough; (It may seem like there is too little water at first, but be patient; The dough will be kind of hot when kneading; When you are done, your dough should not be sticky and should look grayish).
• Cover the ball of dough with 2 layers of moist paper towels; Leave covered for at least 1 hour; After an hour or so, the dough should have transformed from gray to white; (You can use the wait-time to prepare the next step).
• Have your chopped onions and cooking oil ready in small bowls; Make sure your rolling pin and rolling board are floured; The steps to follow will need to be repeated until all of the ingredients are used up.
• Make a ball of dough 6-10 ounces in volume; (6 ounces will give you a pancake the size of a CD and will allow you to o fry 2-3 of them at the same time;) Make sure you re-cover the bowl each time you remove some dough.
• Use the roller to flatten the ball into a round circle 2-mm thick; Sprinkle salt (you decide how much) uniformly over the'circle;' Use the roller to roll the salt crystals into the dough.
• Brush a thin amount of cooking oil uniformly over the circle; Then sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of chopped onion uniformly over the circle; (Read the next step before applying the onions, so as to better understand how much onions to apply).
• Roll the circle into a cylinder; (If you put too much onion, it won't roll well) Gently squeeze as much air out of the'cylinder' as you can; Pinch the ends so the onions wont fall out; (If the sides of your cylinder start popping holes, you made the circle too thin, but don't worry).
• Roll the cylinder along the length and tuck the outer-end into the roll; Your creation should look like a snail shell and be shaped like a rollerskate wheel.
• Rest the'wheel' on its face and use your roller to flatten it into a pancake, around 4-5 mm thick; Don't be worried if onions start spilling out when you flatten.
• Brush your frying pan with cooking oil and fry on low heat; Turn when the bottom is crispy; The final pancake should be crispy on the outside, with a few burn spots on the surface, and dense and chewy on the inside.
• I recommend tasting the first one to decide if you want to add more salt or onion, or if you want to make the pancake thicker or thinner.