I've been spending as much time outdoors as I can. Sydney is at its absolute best with sparkling bright days (you wouldn't know the struggle our planet is going through by looking out your window in Sydney..). Frankie the dog has turned into the ultimate lounge lizard, sleeping on the deck in the sun while I potter amongst our plants, pruning, fertilizing, watering and growing more seedlings. Not one, but three pots bursting with spring onions
(or scallions) brought me indoors with a harvest, and to make these irresistible pancakes. Also, I was inspired when DJ/young mum/visual artist Christina Chung (on instagram as @chungtech) had a flash of scallion bread on her feed recently and sent me kind instructions of making it with sourdough starter, and I thought: I have no starter!
I'll stick with pancakes!
Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
¾ cup hot water
1/3 cup cold water
2 tbsp. sesame oil
2 cup chopped green scallion ( no white stems)
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. Chinese five spice powder
Directions:
In a clean bowl, mix the flour and salt with a fork.
Make a hole in the centre of the flour and pour in the hot water. Leave to stand for ten minutes.
Pour in the cold water and 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil.
Using a pair of chopsticks, stir together until a 'shaggy' dough forms.
Now discard the chopsticks, and using floured fingers, knead lightly into a smooth ball (you may need to sprinkle a little flour into the base of the bowl so it doesn't stick.
Leave to rest for 30 minutes with a damp cloth over the bowl.
Now sprinkle some flour onto your work surface.
Cut the dough into four equal parts, and shape into balls.
Using a floured rolling pin, make a circle with the dough, turning and flipping over frequently between rolling. This will ensure an even thickness. Roll the dough until it is about 2 mm thick. The circle should be roughly the size of a side plate.
Brush the surface with some sesame oil, and then sprinkle the Chinese five spice powder and chopped scallion evenly over all the surface.
Pick up an edge of the pancake, and roll up the dough into a tube/cigar shape.
Now twist the cylinder into curl, like you would for a cinnamon bun.
Cover with damp cloth again and leave to rest for a further 10 minutes.
Flour up the work surface again and press your rolling pin down gently in the centre of one of the dough parcels. Turning the parcel in-between rolls, flatten out the parcel until you have a round pancake the same dimensions as in step 9.
Now heat a heavy based fry pan and brush with some sesame oil.
Place a pancake into the hot frypan and leave for a scant minute, before turning, flipping and cooking on both sides until brown and golden spots appear. All up about 3 minutes.
Remove from the pan, cut into sections and serve with a dipping sauce.
Dipping sauce:
I used a combination of black vinegar, finely diced ginger and my pickled chilli with some of its juice, but do make up your own!
We ate these for lunch with cold roast chicken left overs.
Note: I am so keen to try these with fresh coriander leaves!
Note: I tried the coriander leaf version: don't bother. The flavour was too delicate and was lost in the pastry.