I first saw this hack for scallion pancake on Woks of Life and thought it was pretty brilliant!
This recipe was close to the original homemade dough version. The exterior pancake is perfectly crispy and the fragrant aroma of scallion permeates the house as it cooks. The clever layers created by layering and pressing one layer of one dumpling wrapper into another makes it look just like the real deal! Not sure how I’d ever go back to rolling out dough (though truthfully, nothing beats the most delicate layers and flavor of the rolled out dough version).
The original way, you had to actually make and knead the dough; along with flattening, rolling and layering with oil, salt and scallion on repeat for several layers. Having a small kitchen doesn’t help either because the surface area is never large enough to do all that comfortably. My kids love, love, loveee having scallion pancake for breakfast. It’s easy to eat, simple and tasty. Usually, they don’t even need any sauce with it. Today, I decided to serve it with condiments. Their favorite was the Chinkiang Vinegar (not shown in photos), an aged black vinegar, similar to aged balsamic vinegar. You may be familiar with the flavor of the black vinegar, if you’ve ever had soup dumplings or dumplings in Chinatown. I think they often combine it with shreds of ginger, a little soy sauce and vinegar. The brand I purchased was one of the more expensive kinds I bought– I dont know how to read Chinese, but thought the bottle looked sturdy and “fancy”, so we hoped it would taste good- and it did! The flavor is very well balanced and it didn’t need anything extra to dip things in– my kids even love it on its own.
After you make this once and realize how easy it is, you’ll probably find yourself making it weekly! It would make a great appetizer for parties too. After using up my first pack of dumpling wrappers , I decided to play around with it by layering it with egg and a hoisin peanut spread (used in my cheongfun fishball recipe), to mimic Jianbiang bread. It didn’t come out bad, but I think I will try it several other ways to perfect it before posting an actual recipe for it because I think it could’ve been eggier.
Picture Walk
Ingredients
Dumpling wrappers
Chopped scallions ( I cut up about 3 bunches of scallions)
Salt to taste
Oil (I used my favorite extra virgin olive oil this time, but I’ve used sesame oil in the past)
Egg (optional- but I felt the scallion pancake didn’t get as crispy when I added the egg to it)
Optional Sauce
Chinkiang Vinegar (The brand I got at the supermarket was Laurier D’or International- I didn’t see this on Amazon)
Steps
1- Lay down one dumpling wrapper.
2- Brush with layer oil (as if you’re painting a circle)
3- Sprinkle salt to taste (not too much- maybe 1/2 a pinch- layering too much salt would make it too salty)
4- Sprinkle a few pieces of scallion
5- Layer this a few times (I used between 3 and 5 wrappers)
6- Fry on medium low until it look like the photos- with its crispy brown exterior) on both sides.
**Note: It can brown quickly, but I like medium low because I want to make sure all the layers cook evenly in the center, and for the scallion flavor to further develop.
Have you ever had scallion pancake before? Often times, you can order this at Chinese take-out restaurants– it’s a good first place to try it before making it if you’re curious what it’s like!
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