Scallion Pancakes
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With Chinese New Year coming up this week, my family made some Chinese dishes this weekend to do some early celebration.
We’ve made scallion/green onion pancakes before, but we’ve been working on trying to perfect it. The ideal pancake is very thin, but contains many layers that are crispy and doughy at the same time.
One thing we did differently this time was to knead the dough in my stand mixer, rather than kneading by hand. I think this created a more elastic dough. I didn’t take any step by step photos but you can view the ones from our first attempt.
Green Onion Pancakes
We love to make these pancakes for Chinese New Year. The pancakes are very thin, but contains many layers that are crispy and doughy at the same time.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cups boiling water
- oil, vegetable and sesame oil
- salt
- 1 cup green onions, diced
Instructions
- Pour flour and water into food processor or stand mixer and knead for a few minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. If too dry, add a little more water. We kneaded our dough for about 10 minutes.
- Take a small piece of dough (about the size of your fist) and roll it out as thin as possible. The shape doesn’t matter.
- Drizzle some oil and rub it in with your hands so that the entire surface is lightly covered, but there are no pools of oil in any one spot. We used about a 4:1 ratio of vegetable oil to sesame oil. If you don't want sesame oil you can use just vegetable oil. I would not recommend using too much sesame oil because it has a very strong flavor. Don’t be stingy on the oil or your pancakes will be too dry. Make sure there is a nice thin layer on each one, and make sure it is spread across the whole dough.
- Sprinkle some salt evenly across the dough. Then sprinkle on the diced green onions. It’s up to your personal preference how much you like.
- Roll the dough into a long rope. It’s okay if oil and onions squish out the sides. Coil that rope into a circle.
- Flatten the circle with your hand and then use rolling pin to roll out the pancake and thin it to your desired thickness. Ours we about 1/4 inch thick.
- In a pan, heat up a bit of oil over medium/low heat. Put your pancake on heated pan and let it cook until golden brown, and then flip to crisp the other side. Serve immediately.
Notes
Adapted from Gaga in the Kitchen
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!
I haven’t tried to knead the dough by mixer/processor before. I think it’s because I didn’t want to wash any more items than I had to! The pancakes in your picture look so pretty because they’re the same size. Mine are varying sizes and shapes, but I guess you can they’re definitely handmade.
I already had my mixer out for other stuff, so I thought I would use it for these too. The ones I photoed just happened to be the most evenly sized ones. We had some not so pretty ones too. =)
Wow, these scallion pancakes look so yummy! 🙂
I love scallion pancakes =)
Just a thanks for all your posts – they’re always a joy to read!
Thanks for your kind words!
I made them after I read your first entry of green scallion pancakes, now I see why they charge $4 for 2 at a local noodle place! It does take a bit of arm work to knead and roll the dough and make them. They did come out tasting a lot like the ones I’ve had. I tried to skimp on the oil because I didn’t want them too greasy but really, it’s the oil that helps make them flaky. I would have liked them really thin and crispy…but I can’t seem to roll them out thin enough without the onions coming out everywhere! I can’t say that I will ever make them again but I will say I have a lot more respect for the people who have to roll these for a living!
Haha, I agree. It can be a lot of work. That’s why I always have my brother and his girlfriend helping me out. 😉 I hate the kneading and rolling especially. The stand mixer takes the work out of kneading, but the rolling is still a problem. I can’t seem to get them thin enough either. I think they are thin and then after I’m done they seem to be too thick.
Augh! I have been craving scallion pancakes for so long!! I liked your last recipe – the pic in this one looks different thou – less green onions in the pic?
I hope to try the stand mixer too! Do you think the boiling water is the trick? My grams used half hot and half cold water. But I think of your readers also said boiling water really helps the dough – or perhaps it’s the longer kneading time?
I also use TONS of sesame oil – it truly enhances the homemade version!
Hope to try this out soon!
We used hot water, but not boiling. Maybe I will try boiling next time. I think the kneading helps. I think you also need to roll it very very thin, which is a lot more effort. hah. Yeah there are less scallions in this one. We didn’t have enough. Next time I need to put more. =)