During the lockdown, the cuisine that I miss eating at a restaurant the most is undoubtedly Chinese food. Especially going for dim sum!
Chinese food hits my nostalgia and heartstrings as eating Chinese foods reminds me of gathering with people and being with family.
I am trying to recreate some of my favourite Chinese dishes at home to hold me over until we can step foot into restaurants again. Sadly what we cannot recreate is the bustling atmosphere in Chinese restaurants at home. Looking forward to going back to 茶樓 (tea house; chaa lau) hopefully soon!
Chinese Scallion Pancakes
Yield: 4 people
Materials
Scallion pancakes:
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of warm water
- 3/4 cup of sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
- 3 scallion stalks thinly sliced
Dipping sauce:
- Pinch of chilli flakes
- 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
- 3 table spoons of soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
- Pinch of thinly sliced scallions
Instructions
- Mix the flour, salt, and slowly mix in portions of the water to form the dough. Knead the dough until smooth. Once smooth, form the dough into a ball and brush a coat of sesame oil onto the dough ball.
- Let the dough rest in a bowl in a fridge and cover the bowl for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, section the dough into 4 mini dough ball portions.
- Roll each dough ball out to a circle.
- Place a thin layer of oil onto the dough and sprinkle garlic salt and scallions on top over the dough.
- Roll the dough up into a log.
- Take one end of the log and roll it inwards to form a spiral. Then flatten on top and roll out the dough to form your pancake.
- Repeat steps 4 to 7 with remaining dough ball portions.
- When ready to cook, heat up the cooking oil and pan fry each side for about 3 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
- Cut into portions and serve with the dipping sauce (mix all the ingredients of the dipping sauce together to make the sauce) or any other desired sauce.
