Mr.T Scallion Pancake

For a long time, I've always read about the tastiness of scallion (American way of saying spring onion) pancake but never actually tried it before. It's probably a very common staple food in China but not in Malaysia ;)

So finally on a lazy Sunday afternoon where there're no chore calls or need/desire to go out, I looked up the recipe and tried it out. Well, er...in the process of making the pancake, it is 'unfortunate' to discover that I'm not that good with dough mixing and being gentle with rolling pin so Mr.T with his 'feminine' hands took over and made the dough plus all the rolling.

Mr.T in action

Rolled up the side of pancake

Ready to be pan fried pancake

Well, I had to take part in the pancake making so I did the pan fried part but was actually clueless if it's cooked or not. Nevertheless, judging from the gradually translucent texture and then golden brown pancake surface, I take it as a ready sign :)

Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try (and please tell me if it's my fault that it's dry):-

2 cups flour

3/4 cups luke warm water

6 tsp sesame oil (or mix with ordinary cooking oil)

1 tbsp salt

2 bunch of spring onions chopped

1. Put flour in a mixing bowl, gradually add in the water and mix well. add a bit flour if it's too wet; or some       

    water if it's too dry; bottom line is it should not be too sticky. Let it rest for 15minutes. 

2. In the mean time, chop the spring onion and set aside.

3. Take the rested dough and form a roll. Cut into 6 pieces of equal size and roll the pieces into balls.

4. Place a ball of dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll into a thin circle, as thin as you can get.

5. Spread 1tsp of oil over the dough, sprinkle a good pinch of salt (you'll need it) all around the dough and 1/6 portion of chopped spring onion on top.

6. Roll the pancake up from the end (shown in Mr.T's picture), then curl the roll around in a spiral and pinch the end of the roll to 'seal' it.

7. With your palm, press the roll from the top to flatten it then roll the pancake out to 1/8 inch thickness.

8. Heat a tablespoon of oil on pan over medium heat. Set the pancake in oil & fry till bottom is crisp & golden. Then flip the pancake, add more oil if needed. Remove from heat when both sides are golden brown.

Scallion pancake in pan

Final product

The taste? I'm actually slightly disappointed over the slight dryness of the texture. Maybe my recipe / method was wrong or maybe I didn't cook them well enough but I imagine it to be something much nicer. Anyway, it was a fun Sunday afternoon with lots of dishes to clean afterwards :s