A flattened piece of dough stuff with green onions, then rolled into a straw, which is once again rolled into the flower bud shape in the photo above. Sadly, the bud isn’t the final step but it is next rolled flat and fried.
Savory and crisp on the edges, Chinese green onion pancakes can be eaten on their own or alongside a saucy dish or stew. I prefer to nibble on them fresh from the frying pan along with a cold beer.
A favorite snack in our household, it wasn’t until recently that I attempted to make green onion (scallion) pancakes. I came across Diana’s recipe, along with amazing step by step photos, which made the whole process seem manageable.
The recipe uses only a few ingredients, many of which you already have in your cupboard. Two doughs are made initially in separate bowls, then later merged together and allowed to briefly rise. The final dough is easy to work with and rolls effortlessly.
I rarely take the time to snap photos while making food, especially when I have flour strewn across every surface from floor to ceiling. However, the rolled dough looked so interesting that I couldn’t resist getting flour all over my camera too.
Make sure to work quickly while rolling out the dough and be careful about stacking the rolled pancakes. As they sit and become warm, they may tend to stick together.
The recipe makes quite a few and I froze nearly half of them for later use. I placed waxed paper squares between each pancake (unfried) then wrapped the lot and placed in the freezer.
When frying the pancakes, use plenty of oil so that each one is perfectly crisp and golden. I’ll admit that I skimped on the oil and burned a few pancakes in the process (i.e as I mentioned recently, pancakes are not my strength).
The pancake flavor is spot-on delicious. I haven’t tapped into the frozen stash yet, but intend to do so soon.
More scallion pancake recipe ideas:
Chinese Scallion Pancakes – use real butter
Scallion Pancake Pizza – The Perfect Pantry
Scallion Pancakes – Dorie Greenspan
Mmmmm…these are my favourite Allen! Thanks for sharing!
Those look so much better than the ones I tried to make
glad you stopped to take the pictures of the food in process–they are great.
Are they really so simple to make? I may have to give them a try if they are! I love that they can be frozen to make later, too! They look scrumptious!
These are soooo pretty!! I’ve always wanted to try making them myself. You’ve inspired me to give it a go.
just made these and they are easy to make! luckily i had some yeast on hand. they were really good and i’m literally making a second batch right now (waiting for the dough to rise)! koreans make a similar dough that we like to fill with sugar in the center and fry so the sugar will melt and become gooey. this second batch i’m making will be half scallion and half raw sugar…sweet and savory! i also used a mixture of soy sauce and white vinegar and red pepper flakes as a dipping sauce or hoisin sauce i think would be a nice touch. thanks for sharing! my family thanks you too :D
What an interesting technique, with the two separate doughs, one risen and the other quickly cooked. I’d never have thought of that.
I hope you are having a great vaca!
Thanks for posting that one! I have had a similar recipe for that in my to make *pile* for some time, I had forgotten about it. Maybe ‘cuz my *pile* is really a mountain. I’d better get busy, thanks for the motivation :)
Mmmmm, these look sooo good. Yum!
This looks so good! i love working with recipes where you have to roll the circles of dough like a jelly roll, then coil them into a spiral and flatten. I don’t know why but I like that process:) We make something similar in Azerbaijan, but instead of green onions we laminate the dough with spiced butter. I should give this Chinese recipe a try. Looks so good!
Nice to know that we can freeze part of it for later. Uneven browning is always a sign of a great home cooked meal :)
I’ve never made these before! I’ve never… had them before either :( I think I need some now, with duck on the side! ;)
This is perfect looking, wonderful. I haven’t tried this at home yet…
I love recipes that you can freeze for later! Green onion pancakes were a favorite breakfast food growing up at our house. We used to order it from street vendors too when we lived in Shanghai. YUM!
I just returned from vacation and remembered that I have a stack of these still in the freezer. I’ll have to fry them up this week as I’m craving them again.
Although there are a few steps to prepare the dough and form the pancakes, I found it easy and fun to do. I like working with dough though – I find it relaxing ;-)
Lovely! I had done mine & posted some times back & rolled mine like this.. like a cute snail.
Looks delicious! Reminds me of stuffed parathas that we have back at home! I’m imagining mashed peas along with the scallions as the flecked stuffing…
I had these yesterday from a chinese takeout place, but these looks 10x better!
Love it! I made these too (in Asian Cooking class in culinary school this past spring). Fun to find them here too! (here: http://www.talkoftomatoes.com/2009/02/17/asian-fare-spring-onion-pancakes/