Do you ever find yourself at a restaurant where the complimentary bread basket turns out to be the best part of the meal? I am ALWAYS in search of those gems because I absolutely love bread. I love bread on its own and also as a vehicle for dipping sauces. One of my favorite kinds of breads that I could literally munch on for hours, is the Chinese scallion pancake. Savory, slightly sweet and oh so flaky, Chinese scallion pancakes are more often found at street vendors and Chinatown bakeries than at your average Chinese restaurant, although I have had luck finding them at Dim Sum shops.
I found myself craving them this week after having them at a local Chinese restaurant in the Bay Area a few days ago. Although I could have easily zipped over to the frozen food section of my local Asian grocery store, I was up for the challenge of making them from scratch. After scouring the internet for recipes, I found that they are actually incredibly easy to make. While they are delicious on their own with a little bit of soy sauce or chili paste, I decided to make my meal a little heartier by adding some cheddar cheese that I had leftover in my fridge. One thing led to another and I realized that scallion pancake quesadillas were my genius fusion idea for the day. I devoured them up within 10 minutes (isn’t anything that’s cut up into bite sized pieces so easy to nosh up?) and immediately began crafting a second batch to share with friends, and you!
With my second batch I learned quite a few tips and tricks:
• The secret to flakier pancakes is to repeat the rolling and flattening process 2-3 times.
• If you want to double or triple this recipe (this recipe yields 4 pancakes), make them in small batches instead of doubling all the ingredients. A large ball of dough is difficult to knead evenly.
• Add the cheese while the pancake is cooking. Don’t make the pancakes first and then fold them into quesadillas – the bread will become too burnt
• These taste pair amazingly with soy sauce, salsa, sour cream or guacamole.
• Make extra, they’ll go quickly. 🙂
