Green Onion Pancakes

By Bee Yinn Low, Easy Chinese Recipes

Reprinted with the express permission of Tuttle Publishing.

My first experience with Green Onion Pancakes was when I visited Shanghai for the first time.  One morning, I was feeling jetlagged so I headed down to the hotel’s lobby for an early morning breakfast.  The breakfast set menu was traditional Chinese fare: freshly made soybean milk, you tiao (fried cruller), tea leaf egg and Green Onion Pancake.

As soon as my order arrived, I got a whiff of the green onions.  The Green Onion Pancakes were crispy yet doughy in the middle, each bite was mildly salty and then the oniony fragrance surfaced.  I enjoyed the pancakes thoroughly, especially with a glass of warm soybean milk, on that sleep-deprived morning.

The best Green Onion Pancakes are made with lard, so feel free to use lard (instead of oil) if you like.

Makes 8 pieces or serves 4 as an appetizer

1½ cups (200 g) all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons salt
½ cup (125 ml) water
3 green onions (scallions), green parts only, trimmed and cut into small rounds, to yield about 1/3 cup
2 tablespoons oil
Some additional all-purpose flour, for dusting and rolling
Oil, for frying

1. Sift the all-purpose flour into a big bowl and then add the salt into the flour. Combine well and set aside.

2. Bring the water to a boil. Slowly add the water to the flour and knead the dough until it’s no longer sticky and the surface becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. If the dough is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water to the dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.

3. Add the green onion into the dough and combine well.

4. Make the Green Onion Pancake by following the directions below.

5. Add about 1/ 4 inch (6 mm) of oil into a stir-fry pan or skillet over moderately high heat. Transfer a piece of the pancake into the pan or skillet. Shallow fry each side of the pancake to a light golden brown, about 1 minute. Flip the pancake over and shallow fry the other side. Add more oil, repeat the same for the remaining pancakes and serve immediately.

HOW TO MAKE THE GREEN ONION PANCAKES

1. On a flat and floured surface, divide the dough into 8 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball using your palm.

2. Working with one dough ball at a time, roll the dough to a thin disc using a rolling pin. Dust the rolling pin with some all-purpose flour as you go.

3. Brush the surface of the disc with the oil.

4. Roll the dough into a cylinder.

5. Coil it up like a snail.

6. Dust the rolling pin with the flour and roll the dough until flat, measuring about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. Set the dough aside on a baking sheet. Repeat Step 2–6 for the rest of the dough.

Classic Indonesian Fried Rice

By Wendy Hutton, Southeast Asia’s Best Recipes

Reprinted with the express permission of Tuttle Publishing.

Fried rice is a common breakfast throughout Indonesia. It is often very simple—cooked rice tossed with a seasoning paste of chili and a dash of sweet soy sauce—or can be more substantial, like this recipe, which adds beef instead of the pork often used in non-Muslim parts of Southeast Asia. You could also add some shrimp and top each serving with a fried egg (which the Indonesians call a “bull’s-eye egg”). This is a quickly made lunch or supper dish.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

1/3 cup (85 ml) oil
7 oz (200 g) sirloin or rump steak, thinly sliced across the grain, shredded
7 oz (200 g) small fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined, or add another 7 oz (200 g) beef
6 cups (800 g) cold cooked rice, stirred with a fork to separate the grains
2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 tablespoons crisp-fried shallots
1 green onion (scallion), minced
1 large ripe tomato, sliced

Seasoning Paste
6 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2–3 red finger-length chilies, sliced

Prepare the Seasoning Paste by processing all the ingredients together to a coarse paste.

Heat 1/4 cup (60 ml) of the oil in a wok and add the Seasoning Paste. Stir-fry over medium heat until softened and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Increase the heat, add the beef and shrimp, if using, and stir-fry until cooked, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir-fry over high heat for 1 minute. Sprinkle with the sweet soy sauce and salt and stir-fry for another minute.

Transfer the rice to a large bowl and keep warm. Use the remaining oil to fry the eggs, one at a time, in the wok, or cook them all at one time in a skillet. Transfer the rice to four plates. Top each serving with a fried egg and garnish with the crisp-fried shallots and green onion. Add a few tomato slices and serve with a chili sambal.

Note: As with all fried rice dishes, it is preferable to use rice that was cooked the previous day, so that it has completely dried out.

Crunchy Burmese Cabbage Salad
(Gawbi lethoke)

By Wendy Hutton, Southeast Asia’s Best Recipes, From Bangkok to Bali

Reprinted with the express permission of Tuttle Publishing.

The Burmese have perfected the art of making salads, first choosing the vegetables, then adding extra ingredients for saltiness, texture, fragrance and acidity. In this simple yet really tasty recipe, shredded cabbage is mixed with onion, dried shrimp and lime juice, together with crisp-fried shallots.

Serves 4–6
Preparation time: 20 mins + 1 hour soaking
Cooking time: 5 mins

5 cups (375 g) round cabbage or Chinese (Napa) cabbage, finely shredded
1 medium onion, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced across
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons dried shrimp, dry roasted over low heat for 4–5 minutes, blended to a fine powder
2–3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon oil, preferably shallot or garlic-flavored oil
1 green finger-length chili, thinly sliced,
or 1 teaspoon crushed dried chili flakes
1–2 tablespoons Crisp-fried Shallots (omit if using Burmese Crispy Dried Shrimp Sprinkle)

Put the cabbage in a bowl, cover with cold water and refrigerate for 1 hour. Combine the onion with the salt, mixing well. Stand for 30 minutes, then rinse briefly and squeeze out the moisture. Set the onion aside.

Drain the soaked cabbage thoroughly, then put into a bowl. Add the onion, dried shrimp powder, if using, 2 tablespoons lime juice, oil and chili. Mix thoroughly by hand, squeezing the cabbage slightly to bruise it. Taste and add more salt and lime juice if desired.

Put the cabbage in a serving bowl and scatter with the crisp-fried shallots. Serve immediately with rice and other dishes.

Vietnamese Honey-glazed Chicken (Ga quay mat on)

By Wendy Hutton, Southeast Asia’s Best Recipes

Reprinted with the express permission of Tuttle Publishing.

To make this sophisticated Vietnamese recipe, chicken—first marinated with black pepper, sugar, salt and sesame oil—is brushed during cooking with a piquant glaze. This is a good recipe if you’re entertaining, not just because it’s sure to be enthusiastically received, but because the chicken can be marinated and the Honey Glaze prepared several hours in advance. Then all you need to do is start roasting the chicken about an hour before you want to eat.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 mins + 1 hour marinating
Cooking time: 1 hour

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 whole fresh chicken (about 21/2–3 lbs/1.25–1.5 kg), fatty deposits and excess skin removed, pat dry with paper towels
2 stalks lemongrass, tender inner part of bottom third only, bruised and cut into 4 pieces

Honey Glaze
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons annatto seeds or a little red food coloring (optional)
1/4 cup (60 ml) honey
2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (or 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce mixed with 2 teaspoons soft brown sugar)
4 teaspoons lime or lemon juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Mix the salt, pepper, sugar and sesame oil in a small bowl. Rub half the mixture inside the chicken and the remainder over the outside. Leave the chicken to marinate at room temperature for 1 hour, or cover and refrigerate for several hours if preferred.

Prepare the Honey Glaze by heating the oil in a small saucepan. Add the annatto seeds and cook over medium heat until the oil turns light orange, 2 to 3 minutes. Strain the oil into a large bowl, discarding the seeds. Add the honey, soy sauce, lime juice and sesame oil, mixing well. If using red food coloring, just mix all the Honey Glaze ingredients together, including the oil. (The glaze can now be kept aside for several hours if you are preparing the recipe in advance.)

To finalize the dish, put the lemongrass inside the chicken and place it in a baking dish. Use a pastry brush to paint the Honey Glaze over the outside of the chicken, reserving the remaining glaze. Roast the chicken at 425°F (220°C), breast side up, for 15 minutes.

Stir the glaze thoroughly, baste the chicken again and return it to the oven. Reduce the heat to 350°F (180°C) and roast for 15 minutes. Brush the chicken with the glaze and oil which has run into the baking dish, then with the reserved glaze. Turn the chicken breast side down and cook for another 15 minutes. Brush again and roast for a final 15 minutes. Cut the chicken with a cleaver into 14 to 16 serving pieces, put on a serving dish and serve hot with the glaze from the baking dish poured over.

NOTE: It is important to baste the chicken every 15 minutes so that the skin becomes crisp and turns a rich golden brown. Stir the glaze each time before basting to amalgamate the honey.