A couple of weeks ago, I was craving green onion pancakes. I was ordering them everywhere I went, as evidenced by my visits to A&J Restaurant, Chin’s, and Yi Mei Chinese Pastries. Then I kind of forgot about my craving, until I read the weekend challenge for Serious Eats. The challenge is pancakes. Initially, the first image that popped into my mind was the traditional, fluffy stack of American pancakes served with syrup. I thought that maybe this weekend I could finally try out that blueberry pancake recipe sitting in my recipe pile. But I didn’t have any blueberries…As I continued reading about the weekend challenge, the post suggested that we didn’t need to limit ourselves to traditional American pancakes and even provided a link to other regional pancakes.
I clicked on the link and read about all different kinds of pancakes. What I was surprised about was that for Asia, they talked about this type of crepe. When I think chinese pancake, my mind immediately thinks of green onion pancakes. No green onion pancakes were referenced in this wikipedia article. So I decided I was going to make some green onion pancakes.
Green onion pancakes are a savory treat. It’s basically a circle shaped dough that contains chopped up green onions. Usually the dough has a few layers. They are usually pan fried. They are also usually quite big in size, and will be cut into pieces like a pizza.
I’d never made green onion pancakes before so I called up my mom. She told me it was too much work, and why didn’t I just buy the frozen ones at Ranch 99? I eat the frozen ones a lot. They are pretty decent. You simply heat them up on the frying pan. While they temporarily satisfy my cravings for onion pancake, I really wanted a good, homemade type of green onion pancake. One that is doughy and fresh tasting, like the ones my grandma used to make from scratch.
So then I found this recipe from gaga in the kitchen. The recipe seemed simple enough. I even went out and bought some green onions so that I could make it. But then I ran out of time. So instead, I settled for an in between. I didn’t buy the frozen ones at Ranch 99, but I did buy the “fresh” ones found in the fridge section at Ranch 99, which tend to be more like restaurant quality ones. They are a lot doughier and have all the pretty layers. I heated them up on my frying pan, and had myself a nice bunch of crispy, flaky green onion pancakes.
I still want to try making them myself though. I will definitely try out gaga in the kitchen’s recipe.
Heehee. I have the same problem when I make my own dumplings…no matter how many I make, they never seem to make it to the freezer. And even if they do, they are gone within a week. I will definitely try out your recipe soon!
They are!
Glad to know it is simple! I will definitely try it out one of these weekends soon.
I go to 168 every once in a while (which reminds me, I need to go back and do a post), though I have never tried their GOP. I’ve suspected they use Ranch 99 stuff for some of their dishes like their XLB and some other dumpling dishes.
I definitely plan on trying to make some soon!
If you get a chance, try the recipe. It’s pretty easy but makes a mess, so I suggest making a huge batch for freezing (or eating because no matter how many I make, they tend to never make it to the freezer :P)
Those sound delicious!!!
The recipe I have is similar to the one in your link, and I agree, it’s very simple. I think I’ll prepare a batch this weekend.
I’ve never tried the frozen or fresh ones. Maybe on the next trip to 99 Ranch Market.
Oh man – you just gave me the worst craving for green onion pancake right now!! Darn you!! J/k – but that does look really good. I’ve seen the semi-fresh ones at 99 ranch also. Have you ever been to 168 restaurant? Have you tried their GOP there? I swear this one time i saw them with a frozen GOP package from 99ranch!
I hope you can make a homemade GOP soon! My grams taught me her version and it was pretty tasty. But just alot of work!
Thanks for the post!