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For this May’s 12 Months of Dim Sum project, I share with you a toasted cumin scallion pancakes recipe. This recipe yields perfectly spiced, crispy-on-the-outside and flaky-on-the-inside scallion pancakes that make it hard to not get full of right away! Just one piece of this crunchy, fluffy, flaky goodness is never enough so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I chose to share a toasted cumin scallion recipe as I’ve always loved scallion pancakes (pinyin: cōng yóu bǐng). When I became vegan, it became a go-to option whenever we’d go out for Chinese food. I’ve been lucky enough to find scallion pancakes at both Chinese and Taiwanese restaurants here in Portland and finding them on most dim sum menus. Since we won’t be going out for dim sum next Christmas (or any other Christmas in the foreseeable future), I’m glad I will have the option of enjoying these at home. You can also make these in advance and freeze until you are ready to cook them.
Chinese scallion pancakes differ from American pancakes in that they are made from a dough instead of a batter. They are savory whereas American pancakes are famous for being sweet. As with a lot of Chinese food that uses dough, scallion pancakes are a lot more labor intensive and time consuming than our syrupy American pancakes.
But it’s worth it. I love crispy fried food and scallions are one of my favorite bulb vegetables. Cumin seeds that are toasted are one of my favorite additions to almost any kind of hot, savory dish. So to me, there is nothing better than fresh off the stove, crispy yet flaky toasted cumin scallion pancakes. These are great served with sweet and spicy Chinese chili oil with a soy sauce and a splash of vinegar dim sum dipping sauce!
I’ve made toasted cumin scallion pancakes in the past but tend to only do it when I already have leftover dough from making other recipes like my vegan potstickers.
I looked at multiple recipes to compare how different cooks made them and found all of them to be interesting yet so different from one another…which made me feel more confident about winging it and making my own based on techniques I’ve learned throughout the years. I’m not trying to show off or be inventive. I’m just trying to to figure out what works for me.
Some extra tips before we get started: Adding oil helps the dough stretch while rolling out without sticking to the placemat and avoids us having to add flour to our workspace. The toasted cumin scallion pancake dough is similar to the dough in my lentil and spinach empanadas recipe. I tried to do it without oil but the dough wasn’t as workable. Hot water is also best for the gluten. Cast iron for cooking helps with the browning of the pancake as well in comparison to a stainless steel or nonstick frying pan..although those work too. I just love cast iron the most for the toasted cumin scallion pancakes.
So how do we make this wonderful dish? We start with the dough. We take flour, hot water, kosher salt and sesame oil and mix it in a bowl (using chopsticks first and then hand) until it looks like this:
It’s not super smooth or anything but the texture is just right. We let this rest for 20 minutes covered in the fridge.
While the dough is resting, we start working on our filling. These are the ingredients:
First we take the cumin and toast it in a pan for 2-3 minutes until aromatic. Then we set it aside.
Next we combine everything, except the scallions and cumin, and mix well to form a seasoned oil and flour mixture. When assembling, we have the three bowls below containing green onions, cumin and the paste.
At this point, the dough should be ready and the oil and flour mixture should sit for the flavors to meld. We start to get to work on our dough. We take the dough that’s been resting in the fridge and put a hole in it to make it look like a donut or bagel. We then cut through one part of the dough and turn it into a log.
We then turn that into a log and cut into four equal pieces.
We take one piece and roll it out as thin as possible in totally imperfect shape. It does have to be extremely thin because the thinness is what makes the layers.
See that tiny hole above? Let’s try to avoid that. Not a super big deal because we’re going to roll it up but still. If you get that, just patch it up by bringing some of the dough together until it’s filled out.
Next we spread a liberal yet still thin layer of the oil and flour mixture on the surface and sprinkle evenly with ¼ of the toasted cumin and ¼ of the scallions. We don’t want too much liquid as it’ll just spill out. But we still want enough so that the toasted cumin scallion pancakes are perfectly seasoned.
Then we roll it up as much as we can without pressing or smashing the layers together.
When we have it rolled up into a log, we twist both ends so that it looks like unwrapped candy.
Then we take one end and roll it so that the log becomes what looks like a swirl, tucking the exposed end underneath.
Then we press down gently with our hand to help retain its round shape. At this point, we do want to make as perfect of a circle as possible to ensure we have even slices when we cut later on.
Make sure not to press too hard and not to “pop” super early as there is still air inside. Having it pop like a balloon would also make it messy.
We also don’t want to roll and press down too hard and have the layers stick to one another, creating a dense pancake instead of a flaky one. We roll out the dough into a 6-7″ pancake. As you can see above there was some popping at the edge right there but that didn’t happen until towards the end and no liquid filling seeped out.
We took the first side of this pancake in hot sesame oil in a large cast iron pan for 4-5 minutes on medium heat (on my induction stove that tends to be more powerful) the first minute then down to low medium heat to ensure even cooking through the whole pancake. We don’t want undercooked middles!
Then we flip and work on the second side which is on low medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown patches appear. Careful not to burn.
And you’ve got your toasted cumin scallion pancakes! Put them on a white plain sans paper towel.
Cut each pancake into 8 even slices and serve with your favorite dipping sauce. The one pictured above is a dipping sauce that is a 3:2:1 ratio of soy sauce, white vinegar and Chinese chili oil. I added some leftover green scallion and toasted cumin for fun. Update: Here is a recipe for 2-minute, 3-ingredient, gluten-free Asian dipping sauce here)
All those layers!
Let’s get messy and enjoy our toasted cumin scallion pancakes!
12 Months of Dim Sum Recipes:
January 2021: Vegan Siomai
February 2021: Instant Pot Congee
March 2021: Vegan Potstickers with Ginger Scallion Tofu
April 2021: Crispy Golden Fried Tofu
May 2021: Toasted Cumin Scallion Pancakes
June 2021: Gluten-Free Asian Dipping Sauce
PrintToasted Cumin Scallion Pancakes
A recipe for toasted cumin scallion pancakes that are hot and crispy on the outside and perfectly fluffy and flaky on the inside!
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: Four (4) 6-7″ pancakes
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 cups or 260 grams of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup of hot water, divided
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
Filling:
- ⅓ cup sesame oil
- ⅓ cup or 43 grams flour
- ½ teaspoon of ground Sichuan pepper
- ½ teaspoon of Chinese five spice
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 4 stalks or about 2 cups of very thinly sliced scallions, including the white parts with ends discarded – see notes
Dipping sauce using 3-2-1:
- 1 cup soy sauce
- ⅔ cup white vinegar
- ⅓ Chinese chili oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, sesame oil and ¾ of the hot water with chopsticks until you get a shaggy dough. The dough should end up being smooth enough to press on but not sticking to your hands. Drizzle a little bit of hot water if dough is too dry and add very small amounts of flour if the dough is too sticky. Use your hand to finish kneading for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and not too sticky or dry.
- Leave the bowl of dough in the bowl, cover tightly and let it sit in the fridge for 20 minutes. Work on the pancake filling while the dough sits.
- Bring a small frying pan to medium heat and toast the cumin seeds, tossing around for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
- Bring a small saucepan to medium heat. Add ⅓ cup sesame oil. Once hot, add the flour, ground Sichuan pepper, ground black pepper, Chinese five spice and salt. Whisk until combined and runny. Remove from heat and set aside.
- When the dough is ready, portion the dough into four equal pieces. Make sure the dough is as perfectly round as possible and make a donut-esque hole in the middle. This is to ensure even portions when splitting.
- Cut all the way through one part of the dough to make a log that should be perfectly even. Split into four even pieces using a dough cutter.
- On a silicone mat, roll it out one piece of the dough as possible without tearing. This will create flaky layers.
- Brush the oil and flour filling over the whole surface. Take the bottom of the pancake and start rolling upwards until it forms a log. Then twist the ends so that it looks like a wrapped piece of candy. Start at one end and roll it so that it looks like a swirl or a snail, tucking the other end underneath. Using a rolling pin, gently flatten the pancake with your hand to help it keep its round shape and then gently roll out into a 6″ disc. Avoid “popping” the pancake as much as possible.
- You will cook and assemble simultaneously unless you want to assemble all of it at once. This is when you store anything you want to freeze for another day. Take any toasted cumin scallion pancakes you want to freeze by snugly wrapping in cling wrap and sticking in the freezer.
- Took the scallion pancakes, bring a large cast iron pan to medium heat and cover the bottom with oil. When the oil is heating up, start assembling another onion pancake if you are assembling simultaneously.
- When the oil is hot, add the pancake and for the first minute cook, then turn down heat to low-medium heat and cook for an additional for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown patches appear.
- Put finished pancake on a plate without paper towels on a plate to cool down before cutting into 8 slices.
- Repeat with the other pancakes.
- Serve with dim sum dipping sauce (3:2:1 ratio of soy sauce, white vinegar and chili oil)
Notes
- The thinner the scallion slices, the easier they will be work into the dough. Large pieces can tear the dough.
- When rolling out the dough, be gentle as to create layers instead of a thick, dense texture.
- To make in advance, roll out the pancakes wrap and tightly using cilng wrap. Stick in freezer until ready to cook. Good in freezer for 3-4 months.
