Scallion Cilantro Pancakes: 2000s Recipes + Menus : gourmet.com

2000s Recipes + Menus

Makes32 hors d’oeuvres

December 2003

These scallion cilantro pancakes are supple and crêpelike rather than crisp—more Korean pa jon than Chinese scallion pancake.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rice flour (not from sweet rice; see cooks’ note, below)
Slightly rounded 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 whole large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup water
1 small fresh green Thai or serrano chile, minced
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 scallions (pale green and dark green parts only), diagonally sliced into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup loosely packed small fresh cilantro leaves

Whisk together flours, salt, whole egg, yolk, water, chile, pepper, and sesame oil in a bowl (batter will be thin). Heat 3/4 teaspoon vegetable oil in an 8-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Pour in 1/3 cup batter, then scatter one fourth of scallions and one fourth of cilantro leaves over top, gently pressing into pancake. Fry pancake until underside is pale golden, about 2 minutes. Turn pancake over and cook until scallions are lightly browned, about 1 minute, then transfer to paper towels. Make 3 more pancakes in same manner, adding vegetable oil to skillet each time (there may be some leftover batter).
Transfer pancakes to a cutting board and cut each into 8 wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature, with dipping sauce.

Cooks’ notes:

Dipping sauce can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Rice flour—the base for numerous rice noodles and dim sum wrappers used in Southeast Asian and Chinese cuisines—is simply finely milled long-grain rice. Steer clear of “sweet rice flour,” made from sticky (glutinous) short-grain rice, as it gives food a distinct chewiness. Consistency among brands ranges from feathery soft to mildly gritty. The latter works best for this recipe (we like Arrowhead Mills brand; visit arrowheadmills.com for stores nearest you); the supersoft stuff made the pancakes too gummy.

Recipe by Maggie Ruggiero

Photograph by Mikkel Vang