Scallion Pancakes (蔥油餅)

I've been helping porpsy make scallion pancakes and various other baked bread goods since i was a kid.  My grandma and I made this batch on March 20, 2011.

prepping and cooking time: 1.5 - 2 hours

Ingredients

• 1 bunch green onions
• 9 cups of sifted white flour
• ~1.5 cups of warm water
• ~1.5 cups of cold water
• salt
• extra flour for kneading
• a stick of butter
• oil for frying

1) Put 9 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. Slowly add in warm water while stirring with chopsticks.

 2) Slowly add ~1.5 cups of cold water while continuing to stir with chopsticks.  My grandma does it the old fashioned way - dripped straight out of the kitchen faucet.  Keep stirring with chopsticks until the flour starts clumping together, then start forming a dough with your hands.

3) Transfer the dough to a flour-covered counter top and continue kneading.

3) Knead the dough until smooth.  Cover it with a moist cloth or paper towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.  

4) Chop the green onions while you let the dough rest.

5) Knead the dough a bit more to wake it up.  It should be soft and malleable but not sticky.

6) Roll the dough into a log, almost like a loaf of bread.

7)  Cut the dough log into chunks about 2-3 inches wide.  Each chunk will form one scallion pancake.

8) Melt the stick of butter in a pan on the stove. 

9) Take a dough chunk and squash it against the counter to flatten it. Roll it out as thin as you can without tearing it.  Pro tip: as you roll it out, leave the center slightly thicker, and roll from the center to the edges.  This prevents you from ripping a role in the center.

10) Add about a tablespoon of melted butter to the rolled out dough and spread it out.

11) Sprinkle some salt on top.

12) Add 1-2 teaspoons of chopped green onion.

13) Roll the dough in starting from one edge.

14) Roll it all the way up.

15) Roll the dough again now inward, like you're making a snail shell pattern.

16) Squash the end of the rolled up dough into the center of the snail shell pattern to hold it in place.

17) Gently roll out the rolled-up dough again, but not too thin this time.

18) Repeat steps 9-17 for the remainder of the dough chunks.

19) Start cooking the scallion pancakes.  Fry them over medium heat until brown and crisped on both sides.

20) Eat while hot!

Even the burned ones taste pretty delicious!

21) Store uncooked scallion pancakes in freezer bags.  Have grandma label them in chinese.  :)

Wenzhou Tsao Mi Fun (grandma's fried rice noodle) recipe

porps has been making this dish for me for the past 31 years. it was also my aunt's favorite dish growing up!

prepping & cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 package (16oz) rice stick. we usually use Chao Ching Rice Stick: $0.89 a package ($1.49 at Ranch 99 as of 4/1/13)
• 1 small-ish head (or 1/2 of a big head) of green cabbage. prefer the short, squat kind to the round kind because the core is smaller
• 2 chicken breasts with the ribs/bones attached
• 2 eggs
• 2 carrots
• salt
• soy sauce
• sugar
• 1-2 tsp yellow curry powder
• oil
• 1 tsp rice cooking wine
• 2 ginger slices
• green onions

1) Submerge the dry rice noodles in a bowl of water and soak for 10-15 minutes, or until soft. Important: then take them out of the water and put in a colander; don't over-soak or else they will be soggy when you fry them later.  Wash the cabbage and chop into ~0.5 inch wide strips.  Remove the bones/ribs and slice the chicken breasts into thin slices, then cut the slices into ~0.5 inch wide strips. Marinate the chicken strips in a bowl with 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp sugar.  Submerge the bones/rib in a pot of ~6-8 cups of water,  bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 30 minutes to make a simple chicken stock. Shred the raw carrots and set them aside.

2) Beat the eggs in a bowl. In a hot pan, add 1 tsp oil. When the oil is hot, pour in the eggs and fry them as flat as possible, like a pancake. When the egg is cooked, remove from heat and slice into strips. Set aside.

3) Remove the bones from the chicken stock after 30 minutes. Add cabbage to the stock and cook until the cabbage is just cooked through; about 5-7 minutes. Remove the cabbage and set aside.

4) Add 1-2 tsp oil into a wok. Wait until the oil is super hot, then throw in 2 ginger slices. The ginger slices should be jumping in the oil. Add chicken strips and stir fry. Add 1- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tsp rice cooking wine, and a little water. Fry until the chicken is cooked; remove chicken and set aside.

5) In a small bowl combine 1 tsp salt, 1 full soup ladle of soy sauce, and 1-2 tsp of dry yellow curry powder.

6) Add 1 tsp of oil to the wok. When the oil is hot, add in the noodles and stir fry. Continue stirring as you add in 2 rice bowls full of chicken stock and the sauce that you created in step 5). Add more chicken stock as needed to keep the noodles from sticking to the wok, around 5 more soup ladles full. Add 2 chopped stalks of green onion. The noodles are done when soft. Add the cabbage, chicken, carrots, and eggs back in; stir and serve immediately. Enjoy!

See the full album of pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/ruthannwang/022011WenzhouTsaoMiFun?authkey=Gv1sRgCLjRpL3fx7_I0gE#

my grandma says the "chao ching" rice stick is the best kind to use. you can find them at Ranch 99.

important: don't over-soak the dry noodles; take them out and put them in a colander

frying the egg pancake

slicing the egg pancake

separating the chicken ribs from the breast 

the sliced chicken strips marinade

the soup ladle full of soy sauce

mixing the cabbage back into the fried noodles

fazal!