Scallion Pancakes

These are a great side dish to an Asian-marinated meat with a crisp salad, or as an appetizer if served right away.

We always ordered scallion pancakes when I was a kid from our regular Chinese restaurant in Concord, New Hampshire. I swore I wouldn’t write these kinds of things on this blog, but these pancakes make me so nostalgic! They’re oily and crispy and salty, and a nice easy treat.

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

2 cups/240 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
½ cup (or more) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
6 scallions, very thinly sliced (about 1 cup), divided
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sesame oil

Preparation

Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl; add ¾ cup warm water (105°–110°) and stir until a very shaggy dough forms. If dough looks dry, add more water a tablespoonful at a time and mix until dough comes together.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. (It will tend to stick to your hands and the work surface at points along the way, but don’t freak out, just re-flour your hands and rub them together to get the dough off, and use a bench scraper to get the dough off the surface). Cover dough with a damp kitchen towel and let rest at room temperature 30 minutes.

Flour your hands and divide dough into 4 pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered with damp kitchen towel, gently flatten or roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 9" round. Brush dough lightly with sesame oil and sprinkle with ½ tsp. salt and ½ sesame seeds. Sprinkle one-quarter of scallions (about ¼ cup) evenly over round and roll up, starting at the edge closest to you, to make a spiraled rope. Wind rope around itself to make a coil (think cinnamon bun) and press the outside end under to seal. Using the palm of your hand, push down lightly on coil to flatten. Roll coil out gently into a 7" round and cover with another damp kitchen towel. (Be careful not to roll out pancakes too thin, as the scallions will break through the dough.) Repeat process with remaining pieces of dough, scallions, salt, and more oil to make 3 more pancakes.

Heat ½ cup oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high. Slip a pancake into oil and cook, shaking pan gently and pressing down on pancake to flatten more in the beginning, until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn; cook until second side is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Cut into 4 wedges. Repeat with remaining pancakes, adding more oil to skillet if needed. Pancakes are best eaten hot!