I think I might have been very spoiled growing up. I’ve had the good fortune of always living in very diverse areas full of different kinds of ethnic stores and restaurants and lord knows I went to them all. Going for sushi or italian or dim sum was an everyday occurrence and for a long time I figured it was how everyone else lived too. So imagine my surprised when I started to realize that some of my friends had never had dim sum and that some of them had never had sushi!! It blew my mind. Sushi, ok some people are picky and that’s fair, maybe raw fish isn’t your thing, I’m not gonna hate. But dim sum! My god! It’s brilliant! It’s the best! If I could eat dim sum everyday without any adverse health side effects I would! There are so many dishes and so many different flavors and textures to experience. Radish cakes, shumai, those fried football lookin things full of pork and shrimp, BBQ PORK BUNS!! Hello people! Google told me that dim sum means “to touch your heart” and I totally believe it! Nothing is more heartwarming than sitting in a restaurant getting yelled at by foreign women pushing around carts full of mysterious and delicious foods. Of course, it’s a little pricey sometimes so to deal with my constant cravings I decided to try and make some. I assumed green onion pancakes would be a safe and delicious start…let’s just say that my assumptions were correct.

So the dough is literally just flour, salt, and water. Right? I wasn’t lying when I said they were cheap. The first step in all of this is to combine some boiling water with your flour. Apparently this is what gives the pancakes their chew. I’m just gonna trust the experts on this one.

After you’ve poured and mixed in your boiling water, let it cool down a bit and then add in some cool/room temperature water to bind the dough.

Once nearly all the flour has been incorporated, it’s time to start kneading. I just knead it in the bowl so I don’t have to flour my counter cause I’m laazy. It’ll need about 6-10 minutes of kneading, depending on your technique or whatever. It’s done and ready to rest when its soft and smooth (not like a baby’s bottom though, thats such a creepy comparison and babies aren’t made of flour)

After your dough has rested for an hour, it’s time to get down to business. Ps the dough won’t get bigger or anything since there’s no yeast involved, it’s just resting so it can recover from all the kneading and be easily stretched out and such. First things first, roll your dough out into a snake (missing preschool play-doh days so much right now) and cut it into 8 pieces. Take one of your pieces and cover the rest with some plastic wrap or somethin so they don’t dry out. Roll your piece out as thin as possible on a floured or greased surface.

After your dough is rolled out, take about 1/2 tsp of softened butter or peanut oil and spread out a thin layer of your lipid of choice on the dough. Then sprinkled with a hand full of chopped green onions.

Now, roll your piece of dough up as tightly as possible. You want to get it tight so that when you roll it back out your pancake has lots of delicious flaky layers. You’ll understand soon. Promise.

Roll your twisted up pancake into a bun and repeat this process with the 7 other pieces of dough. When you’re finished you should have 8 fun little green onion filled spirals.

Now, it’s almost time to start eating so get excited. Take one of your spirals and carefully roll it out to a circle thats about 6 inches in diameter (MATH!!1). Be sure that you aren’t squishing it too much cause you want it to keep its layers and you don’t want your green onions squirtin out all over the place.

Once it’s all nice and rolled out, heat up a pan over medium-high heat with a little oil. When its hot, throw this baby in and cook it for about 4 minutes on each side, or until its nice and golden brown. Take it out, oooh and aaaaah, and eat it with some soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili oil. These things are legit. Definitely a go to snack now a days. Also they freeze really well if you wrap them individually in plastic wrap then throw them in a zip lock. I usually try to keep a few in there for dim sum emergencies.

Green Onion Pancakes

From Nook & Pantry

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cups boiling water
• 1/4 cup cold/room temp water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Butter, softened (amount varies)
• 3-4 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
• Oil

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour in boiling water and stir till well combined. Let sit for about 5-6 minutes or until it’s cool enough to be handled. Add in cool water and stir to combine. Once most of the flour has been incorporated, knead dough either on a flour counter or in the bowl for 6-10 minutes. Once dough is soft and smooth, let it rest for about an hour. Once rested, roll dough into a snake and divide into 8 pieces. Take one piece of dough and roll it out as thinly as possible. Spread a very thin layer of the butter onto the dough and then sprinkle about a hand full worth of green onion onto it. I usually eyeball it. Roll the dough up tightly into a snake and roll the snake up into a spiral. Do this to all the dough pieces so you have 8 dough spirals. Gently roll out each spiral till its about 6 inches across. Heat a bit of oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and pan fry the pancake for about 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and crispy.