Cong You Bing - Spring Onion Pancake

Went to the Chinese Spring Festival Dumpling restaurant, on Fenton St.  I discovered these spring onion pancakes - delicious, and very more-ish. I had to find a recipe and try it out.

The hardest thing was rolling out the pastry dough thin enough,  but I couldn't get a nice circle.

I brushed melted butter on and then sprinkled the finely cut spring onions.  Next time I will use solid soft butter, as this will make it more flakey, or coconut oil, and spread it over the pancake.

 Rolling the dough like a cigar was easy, and I am going to use the next step, when make buns.

Curl the dough around into a spiral, like a snail, and tuck the end under.

 Instead of rolling the spiral snail flat, I just put it in the tortilla press, and squashed it.

Voila, a pancke ready for frying.

 I could fit 4 in the frying pan at a time, and the urchins gobbled them down, as soon as I had cut them into quarters.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
  
• 2/3 cup hot water + more as needed about 156 ml
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 stalks spring onion finely chopped
• Cooking oil for frying the pancakes
• butter or coconut oil for spreading

Dipping sauce:

• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 Tbsp red chili paste optional
• 1 Tbsp of sugar 

Preparing the dipping sauce:

• Place all the ingredients for dipping sauce in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil and let the sugar melt. Set aside

  Making the dough:

  Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, add hot water, start with 1/3 cup and continue to gradually add and stir until a dough ball comes together. Add a bit more water, teaspoon by teaspoon if it's too dry. Continue until the dough ball comes together and no longer sticky. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes - this is important, and will make rolling the dough easier.
  

  Shaping (each dough is rolled and flattened):

  Divide the big dough into 8 equal pieces. Sprinkle your work area lightly with some flour. Working with one dough at a time and keep the rest cover so they won't dry out. Flatten each dough with a roller to form a circle or oval as thin as you can .

  
  Spread the butter / coconut oil over the pancake. Sprinkle over some chopped spring onion, and a sprinkle of salt,  leaving about 1 cm around the edge. 

  
  Create a "cigar" by rolling the dough,  start from the side near you to the other side and you end up with a log / cigar.  Now create a "snail" by rolling it again from the side so it forms a pinwheel.

  
  Flatten with your palm and then use a rolling pin to gently roll it into a 15cm circle and about 0.5cm thick. I just used the tortilla press. 

  
  Then place each pancake in between baking paper to prevent sticking while working to flatten the rest. Repeat with the rest of the doughs. Cover the dough while working on another ones.

  Cooking:

  Preheat a frying on high heat. Add about 2 Tbsp oil and then lower the heat to medium. Place the pancake and let it cook on each side , probably about 3 minutes or until you are happy with the colors of the pancakes and it is crispy at the edge. Continue with the rest of the pancakes and add oil as needed

  Serve immediately with dipping sauce on the side.

  Leftovers

  1. Uncooked pancakes
  The uncooked pancake can be stacked between baking paper, and then stored in an air-tight bag and freeze for one month. When ready to cook, they go from freezer to the pan (do not thaw). Cook on low heat to make sure you don’t burn the pancake but it’s still not cooked through inside.

  
  2. Leftover pancakes
  Leftover pancake can be refrigerated or frozen. They can be reheated in the oven at 180 C for 10-15 minutes.