Sesame Scallion Pancake Tacos
Makes 8 8-inch pancakes
You might say to yourself, pancake tacos? Yes, pancake tacos. The process for making scallion pancakes is conceptually very similar to making homemade tortillas, and while dipping them in sauce is tasty, I would rather use them as a bread-like wrapper.
Consider these pancakes a tasty snack on their own (dip them in a soy sauce/lime juice/sesame oil sauce!), too, but try it out as a tortilla wrapper too. Promise you won’t regret it!
1 cup white flour, plus more for working the dough
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup warm (gently warm to the touch, but not noticeably so) water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
A few grinds of pepper10 scallions
Sesame seeds
Canola oil
Add warm water, sugar, and yeast to one bowl and stir to dissolve sugar. Add hot water to a second bowl and add salt and pepper and oil.
Sift together the flours, then divide evenly between the two bowls of water. Mix the flour and water in each bowl with a fork until just combined, then pour out both onto a floured surface and begin carefully folding in the flour until a soft dough comes together and can be kneaded, sprinkling with flour and incorporating until a ball of dough is formed. (When I did this today, I began folding the dough with a rubber spatula to get it to a less-sticky state, then began kneading with my hands to finish it off.)
Oil the cleaner of the two bowls, then place the completed dough back in it, cover with a clean towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Thinly slice the scallion (green parts only; plant or grow the whites in water) and divide into eight equal piles
Once the dough has risen (it’ll get larger, but not nearly double), pour out onto a floured surface and slice the dough into eight equal portions. Roll out a ball of dough with a rolling pin on the floured surface until very thin, flouring and flipping every few pushes of the rolling pin to assure that the pancake doesn’t stick. Drizzle a small amount of oil onto the pancake, spread it out with your fingers, then evenly sprinkle on a pile of onions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Starting at the edge of the circle, roll up the pancake and fillings as if it were a giant cigar. Take the rolled tube of pancake and coil it tightly into a spiral. Flour both sides of the now-coiled pancake and roll it out again carefully to make a pancake about 1/4 inch thick and 8 inches in diameter. This process should give you pancake many puffy layers.
Heat a sauté pan until hot and lightly grease the pan with a touch of oil. Carefully place the completed pancake in the pan and cook on both sides until dry and with spots of brown. Remove to a plate and cover to keep warm and flexible.
Repeat the rolling and cooking process for the rest of the dough, and if you time it well, a new pancake will be rolled and ready to cook as soon as the previous one is done in the pan.
A winning combination of fillings:
- sesame fried rice (leftover cooked rice brought up to warmness with a drizzle of soy sauce, lime juice, tahini, and a few drops of sesame chili oil),
- gingered lima beans and corn (brought to a boil cooked with soy sauce, rice vinegar, a hearty amount of freshly grated ginger, and a bit of water til soft and liquid has evaporated),
- thinly sliced romaine lettuce,
- sambal-like hot sauce.
