I have an aunt who lives in the countryside. When I was small, every time my dad took me to visit her she would make Scallion Pancakes and Stir-fired Eggs for us. Dad told me this is a traditional dish, in former times people who lived in the countryside were poor, flour and eggs were the best food available. When they had guests, they would serve the best they had. Now the poor times are over, but the great taste of the food remains.
Scallion Pancakes
Ingredients:(serves 2)500g plain flour
4 eggs
1/3 tsp five spices powder
1/3 tsp prickly ash powder
1tsp salt
cooking oil
Directions:
- Put the flour in a big bowl, add just-boiled water and stir until it forms a soft dough. Cover the bowl and let it sit for about 10 – 15 minutes.
- While waiting for the dough, finely dice the spring onion and keep on a plate.
- Put the dough on a chopping board, knead it for a couple of minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Roll the dough as long and flat as you can (about 0.5cm in thickness). Make sure that the surface you are rolling on and the rolling pin are well covered with flour so that the dough does not stick. Always start from the center when rolling.
- Brush the long flat dough with cooking oil, and sprinkle 1/2 of the salt, five spices powder, prickly ash powder and 3/4 of the diced spring onion evenly.
- Roll it up, cut it into 3-4 sections. Take one section, stretch it lightly and fold it. Then roll into a pancake with 1cm thickness.
- Heat up the pan, add 2tbsp cooking oil, when the oil is hot turn the heat to low and put the pancake in. Cover the pan with the lid, flip over to the other side every 2-3 minutes, until both sides are golden brown. While cooking, prepare the remaining sections.
- Place the cooked pancakes on a plate, cover it with wet cooking paper to keep the surface warm and crispy.
Now the Scallion Pancake is done, it is very delicious to eat on its own, but it is even more delicious with the Stir-fried Egg!
Stir-fired Eggs
Directions:
- Crack the eggs in a bowl, add 1/2tsp of salt and the remaining diced spring onion. Mix well.
- Heat up the pan, add 2tbsp cooking oil. pour the mixed egg into the pan when the oil is very hot. Different than making scrambled eggs, we want the stir-fired eggs in big pieces, so we won’t mix it too much, just flip over for a few times until we get a golden color.
Cut the Scallion Pancake open, put the egg in the middle, yummy!
