Crispy Scallion Pancakes

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Back then, my family used to head across the bay from Berkeley to San Francisco regularly for dim sum. We’d tuck into unassuming little neighborhood spots like Dol Ho or Hang Ah in Chinatown, Good Luck in “the other Chinatown” in the inner Richmond district, or, when we were really lucky, the original Yank Sing on Battery Street. Here the dim sum was top notch and the setting comparatively upscale, both of which were reflected in the price.

The well-worn and beautifully retro Classic Deem Sum: Recipes from Yank Sing Restaurant sits on my cookbook shelf to this day. Published in 1985, it’s a fairly thin volume that covers the cuisine’s basics—fluffy steamed buns filled with barbecued pork, translucent har gow dumplings stuffed with plump shrimp, steamed pearl balls, deep fried shrimp toast, red bean paste-filled sesame balls, and more. Sadly, scallion pancakes are absent from its pages.

I figured they must be a pain to make, so I never bothered hunting down a recipe. Then I went to an event at Parties That Cook® in San Francisco and discovered how incredibly easy scallion pancakes are to make.

Unlike the short pastry dough we are more familiar with here in the US, which uses ice cold water and fat, this one uses boiling water and melted (or liquid) fat. This makes for a less finicky, very uniform, and pliable-yet-sturdy dough with an extra dose of crispness in the finished product.

A bit of sesame oil and a whole lot of thinly sliced scallions add flavor to the dough. Serve the scallion pancakes with a savory, tangy, and spicy dipping sauce made by mixing equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar with a dash of chili oil and a few scallion slices.

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