Scallion Pancakes, Sans Scallions
While scallion pancakes are a popular street snack in Taiwan and different parts of China, they aren’t so much of a thing in my home country of Malaysia. However, over here, we have a dish that is very similar in texture and flavour called roti canai. As its name suggests, roti canai has Indian origins, as opposed to scallion pancakes’ Chinese roots. But both are similarly flaky flatbreads, with golden-brown, caramelised spots, and thin veils of bready layers that allow for a multitude of fillings and flavourings.
For scallion pancakes, the classic filling is, well, scallions, chopped up thin and sprinkled within. I’ve spotted variants with egg or ham in Taiwanese night markets, or sometimes even cheese and other vegetables, but they’re almost always savoury.
The Malaysian roti canai, on the other hand, can be stuffed with a buffet of fillings. From the common egg and onion filled rotis to renegade instant noodles one, to ones with sliced bananas and cheese, to even milo powder or a calorific blend of butter and cane that we call roti bomb, Malaysians tend to take a if-it-can-be-eaten-it-can-go-in-a-roti approach to stuffing our roti canais.
So, with this Malaysian inspiration, I took the classic Taiwanese scallion pancake recipe and folding technique, and filled it with sweet things!
First I tried kaya, which is a coconut jam that’s a common breakfast condiment in Malaysia and Singapore. Filling it was tricky, like suturing a balloon tricky, because while the thinner these pancakes are, the crispier and flakier they’ll be, and thus better tasting. But with the kaya inside, rolling it out until uber thin will make the kaya burst out from within. So that was half a disaster.
The next one that I tried though, a hotteok-inspired one—with cinnamon, brown sugar, and crushed up walnuts and almonds—was quite the charmer! I did manage to roll it thinner this time around, and after 3 minutes of crisping up in the pan, the hotteok flavour and aroma came through. And that, I must say was a success!
Of course, I also went with the classic scallion filling to serve as a control. But let’s not kid around, the hotteok one is the real star here.
But, truth be told, this was just me messing around in the kitchen and getting excited about offbeat flavours. I wouldn’t say this is the best version of scallion pancakes you’ll come across. (If that’s what you’re looking for, may I recommend Hannah Che’s recipe, which champions an unorthodox folding technique that maximises the flakiness and crispy surface area of the pancakes, through some pretty impressive testing. Kudos to Hannah on that!) But maybe, just maybe, this bit of experimentation did inspire you to take a ride on the wild side sometime.
Scallion pancakes
makes 5 pancakes
Ingredients
Pancake dough
240g all-purpose flour
3g (1/2 teaspoon) salt
130ml hot water
15ml (1 tablespoon) vegetable oil
YOUR CHOICE OF:
Scallion filling
3g (1/2 teaspoon) five spice powder
3g (1/2 teaspoon) salt
80g chopped scallions
Hotteok filling
3g (1/2 teaspoon) cinnamon powder
30g brown sugar
50g nuts, roasted and chopped up finely
Kaya filling
50g kaya
Directions
To make the dough, sift the flour and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Then, add the hot water and oil to it and knead with a dough hook attachment for 4-6 minutes until it becomes smooth and pliable. (Alternatively, you can also knead the dough by hand.)
Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Then, split it into 5 roughly equal portions. Then, roll it out with a rolling pin into an oblong oval around 30cm long and 20cm wide. Brush a bit of oil onto the dough, then prinkle your chosen toppings onto the dough, before rolling it up like a cigar. Pinch both ends close, and twirl it up into a spiral or snail-shape. Finally, roll it out again with your rolling pin into a circle around 20cm in diameter.
To cook the pancakes, ready a pan over medium heat, and add a tablespoon of oil to the pan. Heat the pan up until the oil starts to shimmer, then, gently place a pancake in and pan-fry until golden brown (2-3 minutes on each side). Repeat with the rest of the pancakes, re-oiling the pan before each pancake goes in.
Serve hot, and enjoy!