Quick, easy and incredibly moreish, these spring onion pancakes make a delicious starter or snack, or party finger food that both adults and kids will love.
At the end of my shul’s “Country House Shabbat” there was (inevitably) some food left over. We put everything on a table and asked people to take things home with them. The food varied from cooked and prepared dishes to tea bags, breakfast cereal, and quite a lot of salad ingredients.
Which is how I ended up with four bunches of spring onions (scallions).
Spring onion conundrum
What to do with four bunches of spring onions? The only recipe I could think of that had spring onions as a main ingredient, was spring onion pancakes – also sometimes called scallion pancakes or green onion pancakes.
What are spring onion pancakes?
Spring onion pancakes are a traditional Chinese dish, called cong you bing in Mandarin. They are crispy, fried, flaky, savoury, and utterly delicious! They’re just wonderful as a snack or starter, especially if dipped into soy sauce, sweet chilli, or a Chinese-style dipping sauce.
Unlike ‘British’ pancakes or crepes, they are made with a thinly rolled dough rather than a batter. I suppose they are a bit more like flatbreads than what we typically think of as a pancake.
Spring onion pancakes – keep it simple
I browsed several recipes for spring onion pancakes, all of which seemed to follow a basic pattern, and all of which seemed to take AGES to make.
I finally found a version that looked quick and simple! Realising I didn’t have any sesame oil I tweaked the recipe and made it completely inauthentic by using olive oil. I also added some chopped ginger, because I had some in the fridge, and I think it goes really well with spring onions.
Of course you can use sesame oil yourself if you want a more traditional flavour!
How to make scallion pancakes
To make sure that the chopped spring onions (scallions) are distributed throughout the pancakes, they are prepared with a special technique.
First, the dough is rolled out flat, and the chopped spring onions are scattered over. The dough is then rolled up like a Swiss roll or roly-poly. THEN, this roll is coiled into a snail shape and the rolling pin is used again to squash it flat. The pancake can then be fried until crisp and golden brown.
This rolling and coiling technique also ensures that the dough is flaky and delicious when cooked.
Ingredients to make spring onion pancakes
These pancakes are very simple to make. They only have a few ingredients, namely:
- Spring onions (scallions) – of course!
- Plain flour – also called all-purpose flour
- Olive oil – or use sesame oil for a more traditional flavour
- Fresh root ginger (optional)
- Hot water to mix the dough
- Vegetable oil for frying
Perfect pancakes
The spring onion pancakes were a big success! They were highly delicious, and my daughter Kipper went from having a massive strop because I’d turned the iPad off, to munching happily, within about a millisecond.
However, they were a total failure in using up lots of spring onions – the recipe only calls for FOUR! Which still leaves me with another 3.5 bunches to get through! Any ideas?
The recipe mades 2 big spring onion pancakes, which I cut into 16 wedges, and we enjoyed them dipped into soy sauce.
I’d say this makes a starter for 2-3 people. They would also make great party finger food to serve with drinks too.
Want deliciously easy, family-friendly recipes like this one delivered straight to your inbox? Click here to sign up. (Of course, I’ll never pass on your email address to anyone.)
📖 Recipe
Spring onion pancakes
Ingredients
- 4 spring onions (scallions)
- 200 g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 125 ml boiling water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or use sesame oil)
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped or grated root ginger
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- 4 spring onionsTrim the spring onions (scallions) and slice finely.
- 200 g (1 ⅗ cups) plain flour, 125 ml (½ cup) boiling water, 1 tbsp olive oilMix the flour, boiling water and oil to give a stiff dough. Knead for a minute or two until smooth.
- 1 tsp finely chopped or grated root gingerTake half the dough, and roll out onto a floured surface to a thickness of 4-6mm (⅙-¼ inch). Sprinkle half the sliced spring onions and half the ginger over. Roll up like a swiss roll, then coil the roll into a snail/spiral. Squash the spiral into a disc and roll out again to give a circle of 4-5mm (about ¼ inch) thickness.
- vegetable oil for fryingHeat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the spring onion pancake for 2-3 minutes on each side, until crispy and golden brown.
- Repeat with the remaining dough to make a second pancake.
- Cut each pancake into 8 wedges and serve warm.
Nutrition
More delicious recipes using spring onions (scallions)
Other recipes that will help you to use up spring onions (!) include tasty cheese and onion omelette bites, savoury sun-dried tomato and pesto muffins, and delicious roasted vegetable and barley salad with creamy tahini dressing.
This recipe is included in an article by the international educational publisher, Twinkl – you can read more here.
Leave a Reply