Chinese scallion pancakes
This pancake gets its layers by being rolled into a rope and then coiled — a trick that produces lamination without butter and without chilling. One step decides it: part of the dough is scalded with boiling water. The gelatinised starch limits gluten development, so the pancake stays soft inside despite its crisp shell, and once rolled out it does not shrink back.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Dough 15 min
- Resting 40 min
- Building the layers 30 min
- Frying 36 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneScald half the flour with boiling water
Mix the flour with the salt in a bowl. Pour the boiling water over half of the flour, stirring with chopsticks, then add the cold water and bring everything together into shaggy clumps. The boiling water gelatinises some of the starch — the same principle as tangzhong. The dough becomes soft and workable, and the pancake will not go hard once cooled.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 140 ml boiling water · 100 ml cold water · 1 tsp salt
Knead five minutes and rest
Knead 5 minutes until smooth, wrap and rest 40 minutes. The hot dough is unpleasant to handle at first, but after resting it turns silky and rolls out very thin.
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour · 140 ml boiling water · 100 ml cold water · 1 tsp salt
Make a paste from flour and hot oil
Heat the 60 ml of oil, take it off the heat and stir in 3 tablespoons of flour and the sesame oil. You get a thick paste. That paste, rather than plain oil, is the key: oil would run out during frying, while the paste stays between the layers and holds them apart.
Ingredients: 60 ml oil · 3 tbsp plain flour · 1 tbsp sesame oil · 8 pcs spring onions · 1 tsp salt
Roll thin and spread with the paste
Divide the dough into 6 and roll each into a very thin rectangle. Spread with the paste, sprinkle with salt and a generous amount of chopped spring onion — there should be a lot of green, almost covering the dough.
Ingredients: 60 ml oil · 3 tbsp plain flour · 1 tbsp sesame oil · 8 pcs spring onions · 1 tsp salt
Roll into a rope, then coil it
Roll the rectangle tightly into a long rope, stretch it gently, then coil it into a flat spiral, tucking the end underneath. Each stage multiplies the layers: the rope gives a dozen or more, and coiling stacks them one on another.
Ingredients: 60 ml oil · 3 tbsp plain flour · 1 tbsp sesame oil · 8 pcs spring onions · 1 tsp salt
Rope coiled into a spiral, end tucked underneath.Flatten gently, do not press hard
Rest the coils 10 minutes, then flatten each to 18 cm across, rolling lightly. Too much pressure fuses the layers and the pancake fries like an ordinary flatbread, with no flaking.
Ingredients: 60 ml oil · 3 tbsp plain flour · 1 tbsp sesame oil · 8 pcs spring onions · 1 tsp salt
Fry over medium heat, pressing
Fry the pancakes one at a time, each in about a tablespoon of oil for 3 minutes a side, pressing with a spatula — all six take about 35 minutes in total (half that with two pans). The pancake should develop golden patches and the layers start separating at the edges. Once out of the pan, squeeze it between your hands from both sides — this separates layers that have fused.
Ingredients: 80 ml oil · 4 tbsp soy sauce · 2 tbsp rice vinegar · 1 tsp chilli flakes
Golden patches and layers separating at the edge.Cut into eighths and serve with dipping sauce
Mix the soy sauce with the rice vinegar and chilli flakes. Cut the pancakes into eighths and serve with this dipping sauce. Eat at once — within a quarter of an hour the pancake starts to soften in its own steam.
Ingredients: 80 ml oil · 4 tbsp soy sauce · 2 tbsp rice vinegar · 1 tsp chilli flakes
Before you start
Freezing
Layer the flattened, uncooked pancakes with paper and freeze. Fry from frozen with an extra minute a side. Many Chinese households do exactly this — a fresh pancake is then ready in ten minutes.
Squeezing after frying
It looks strange but it is standard: the finished pancake is squeezed between your hands or two spatulas to separate the fused layers. The difference between a squeezed pancake and an unsqueezed one is visible at a glance.
Be generous with the spring onion
Eight for six pancakes is not a misprint. The spring onion brings moisture, colour and all the flavour — a pancake with two stalks in it is simply fried dough. The green part goes inside, the white can go into the dipping sauce.
