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Feb 14, 2017

Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)

These scallion pancakes are a wonderful appetizer dipped in soy or other sauces. 


Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)
Chinese Scallion Pancakes are made with unleavened dough rather than batter, and are flaky from layers of thinly stretched out dough that is filled with scallions.

I have always wanted to try making these scallion pancakes, so when Mayuri of Mayuri's Jikoni, our Bread Bakers host blog for this month, came up with the theme, pancakes from around the world, I jumped on it. By the way, you will not believe the line up of pancake recipes! If you are a fan of international foods, you definitely need to check out all of the links after the recipe. Scroll all the way down. Pretty amazing. Thanks for the inspiration Mayuri.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)

These scallion pancakes are delicious served immediately, with chili sauce or a soy and vinegar dipping sauce (recipe below). The flavor from the scallions, sea salt, and toasted sesame oil is wonderful.

By the way, while every recipe I found said that they should be served right away, I found that reheating leftovers in a dry frying pan (a trick I use for leftover French fries) revived them beautifully!

Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)

While some recipes call for using a rolling pin, I used my oiled hands to stretch out the dough on a Silpat. Feel free to give a rolling pin a try if it works for you. I find that I can get the dough thinner by using my hands. Don't worry if the dough tears. When you roll it up, no one will know.

Also, some recipes for these Scallion Pancakes call for sugar, but I decided to leave it out so that I could fry these a bit longer without burning them.

This recipe calls for two kinds of oil, toasted sesame oil, and peanut or vegetable oil. The sesame oil, which is lightly spread over the layers of dough, adds a wonderful flavor, but is not a great oil for frying. The peanut or vegetable oil has a high smoke point, perfect for frying these at a high heat.

Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)



Chinese Scallion Pancakes

Chinese Scallion Pancakes

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup hot water
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • About 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
  • 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
  • Coarse sea salt or Kosher salt
  • Peanut or vegetable oil

Instructions

  1. Mix the flour, water, and pinch of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or a food processor. You can also knead this dough by hand. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Spray the dough with spray oil, or rub it with oiled hands. Let the dough rest, covered with plastic wrap, for about 30 minutes.
  2. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Lightly oil a Silpat or your counter with oil, and, using your oiled hands, press and pull the dough out as thinly as possible into a circle. With your hands, rub the dough with sesame oil, and sprinkle with 1/8th of the scallions. Sprinkle lightly with the kosher salt.
  3. Rub your hands with sesame oil and roll up the dough into a log. Coil the log like a snail, and then flatten it with your hands into a 6 inch disk.
  4. Heat a wok or heavy frying pan on medium high and add a tablespoon of peanut or vegetable oil. When the oil shimmers, place the flattened dough in the pan, and fry on one side, one to two minutes, until browned. Flip and cook on the other side until browned. Place the finished pancake on paper towels. Repeat with the rest of the pancakes, adding more oil as needed, until finished.
Yield: 8 pancakes

Serve with chili sauce or a soy vinegar sauce. To make the soy vinegar sauce, mix 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of Chinese black vinegar or balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, and a some chopped scallions. I've also dipped these in Korean Gochujang. Delicious. 

Check out the Pancakes from different parts of the world that our fellow Bread Bakers have baked this month:
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here

BreadBakers
Chinese Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)

Would you like to comment?

  1. I have been wanting to make scallion pancakes Karen. I'm so glad you shared this recipe with all the tips so that I have a head start when I go to make them.

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    1. Hope you like them as much as I did! They're so good!

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  2. Delicious! I love savoury pancakes and these look as perfect as they get :)

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  3. We would love these pancakes. Scallion with the Chinese sauce sounds delicious and they are so pretty too. I think they would even make a great appetizer.

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    1. They are a wonderful appetizer Julie! thanks so much!

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  4. Those scallion pancakes look absolutely perfect -- flaky, soft and delicious.

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  5. These look wonderful, Karen! I bet that sesame oil imparts some great flavor! (and thanks for the tip on reheating French fries!) :)

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    1. It's a revelation! Way better than the oven or microwave!

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  6. Being Greeks ourselves, we look at these as the perfect vessels for tzatziki:) And we really can't wait to try them this way:) Thanx for the yummy recipe dear Karen! xo

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    1. Tzatziki sounds perfect!! I need to try that combo too!

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  7. Scallion pancakes looks so delicious Karen ..........

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  8. These different sort of pancakes look just so yummy Karen.

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  9. Toasted sesame oil and crispy savory pancakes . I will eat them every single day! Just delightful and I must make these soon, Thank you for the inspiration <3

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  10. I could eat this whole batch myself. These are amazing and something I've only ever enjoyed at a restaurant. Now I can think about making this at home too!

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    Replies
    1. I'm so glad I finally tried them. They've been on my list for a long time.

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  11. I LOVE these scallion pancakes. You made it so well!! Can't wait to make them myself again!!

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  12. I heard of these pancakes but never tried them. Thanks for the tip to lightly spread sesame oil for flavor.

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  13. Lovely pancakes.... Looks like a perfect weekend breakfast for me... Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Oh yes! That would be delicious. Thanks Shilpi!

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  14. These have been on my bucket list for a while1

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  15. Hello Karen, Scallion pancakes look so delicious and flavourful. This recipe is bookmarked for sure. Thanks for sharing.

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