I’ve been relying mostly on pantry ingredients to help build my meals this week. Here in Ohio, most people are required to stay indoors. Outside of teleworking, I’ve been cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Cooking from my pantry has forced me to get more creative in the kitchen and actually use up bits and pieces of leftovers. When I started going through my pantry this week, I started to discover ingredients I completely forgot about. Canned tuna became the perfect base for my crispy Asian fishcakes. Cashews transformed into a creamy sauce for my seasoned vegan mac. Rice paper combined with chicken and veggies turned into my grilled chicken summer rolls. Canned tomatoes, boxed pasta, cheese, veggies, and meat became one too many casserole dishes filled with baked penne, baked cavatappi, baked ziti, and baked rigatoni. Apples and oats combined together made the best, simple baked apples with oatmeal crumb topping. Golden raisins added a touch of sweetness to seasoned rice. These ingredients led to endless combinations of flavors and dishes. Kevin and I are reaching the end of our second week of working from home. We’ve been glued to our makeshift work stations for the duration of our weekdays. When my workday is over, I start rummaging through my pantry to see what new dishes I can whip up using the available ingredients. Most of the time, I stare into my pantry and contemplate for a few minutes before deciding what dish to make. I like to imagine myself as a contestant on Chopped trying to invent new dishes using whatever ingredients I had on hand. Some dishes become delightful creations. Other dishes not so much. Luckily, the one ingredient I always have on hand is flour. Flour is the foundation of most baked goods. I keep a variety of flours in my pantry for when cravings hit. I’ve used whole wheat pastry flour in gnocchi, cake flour in steamed buns, and all-purpose flour in pretty much everything else. When I don’t know what I want to eat, I can always prepare a batch of scallion pancakes using all-purpose flour. My scallion pancakes are made with flour, salt, water, oil, and a ton of scallions–all ingredients I always have on hand. Scallions impart a distinctive onion flavor to the pancakes and serves as a colorful, tasty garnish. I even recently tried to regrow scallions using leftover stems. See picture below. Surprisingly, I was able to regrow scallions on my kitchen counter using a glass cup filled with some water. This discovery made it even easier to whip up scallion pancakes whenever I wanted. Today, I’m sharing a new spin on my scallion pancakes – sesame scallion pancakes with sesame maple soy dip. The sesame adds another layer of fragrance and crunch to the scallion pancakes. The maple syrup adds a wonderful woody sweetness to the dip. When paired together, the sesame scallion pancakes with sesame maple soy dip was just delightful. My scallion pancakes with sesame maple soy dip was the perfect pantry dish to prepare on a weeknight for dinner. Kevin and I each enjoyed a stack of savory scallion pancakes as we caught up on our favorite activities. Kevin got to squeeze in a couple rounds of Terraforming Mars. I got to watch a couple episodes in the Chicago franchise.
For the scallion pancakes:
· 3½ cups all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading and rolling dough
· 1 teaspoon kosher salt
· 1½ cups lukewarm water
· 3 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
· 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
· 3 stalks scallions, very thinly sliced, plus additional for garnishing
· 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, plus additional for garnishing
· 4-8 tablespoons of vegetable oil, for frying
For the sesame maple soy dip:
· ¼ teaspoon sesame seeds
· 1 teaspoon sesame oil
· 2 tablespoons maple syrup
· 3 tablespoons soy sauce
Directions:
1) In a large bowl, combine the flour and kosher salt. Gradually add the lukewarm water. Mix all ingredients together until a dough forms. Knead the dough in the bowl for about 3 minutes until you have a smooth dough. Add a teaspoon of sesame oil to coat the dough. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before you begin rolling out the pancakes. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.
2) Lightly flour a working surface or cutting board. Roll the dough out into a large circle. Use a bench scraper to divide the dough in half vertically, then horizontally, and finally diagonally until you form eight equal pieces. Divide the eight pieces in half again until you form sixteen equal pieces. Roll each of the triangular pieces into balls. Set aside.
3)In a small bowl, mix the remaining two teaspoons of sesame oil with three tablespoons of vegetable oil. Lightly dust a working surface or cutting board with flour. Use a rolling pin to roll out each piece of dough into a flat round circle. Brush on a thin coat of oil mixture. Add a sprinkle of sliced scallions and sesame seeds. Top with another piece of rolled out dough. Brush on another thin coat of oil. Add another layer of sliced scallions and sesame seeds. Roll the layered flattened dough into a log. Twist the log into a circle. Use your rolling pin to flatten the circle into a pancake shape. Repeat the process with the remaining dough pieces.
4) Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Add one tablespoon of vegetable oil. Fry one or two scallion pancakes at a time until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Repeat with the remaining vegetable oil and pancakes. Let the pancakes stand for about a minute. Top with scallions and sesame seeds before serving.
5) To make the dipping sauce, combine the sesame seeds, sesame oil, maple syrup, and soy sauce in a small bowl.
Takeaways: Layering the dough with two pieces of dough before rolling, flattening, and frying the dough yielded flakier pancakes. For alternative dips to serve alongside these flaky scallion pancakes, check out my cilantro scallion soy dip or chimichurri soy dip.
As you can see in the photo, I started regrowing scallions by saving about 1.5 to 2 inches of stems from stalks of scallions I cut. The jar on the left shows growth after 2-3 days. The jar in the middle shows growth after about a week. The jar on the right shows growth after almost two weeks.