I love scallions, green onions or spring onions. Whatever you call them, they’re fresh, spritely and add fun to anything they’re used in. Plus they’re cool to look at when swimming in a sauce, cute little buggers.
So when I was over having a gander on Too Many Chefs and caught Barrett’s Scallion Pancakes? I was hooked.

On my grocery list was a bundle of scallions and some fresh garlic, used up the last of it the other day. As a side note, you really should take inventory of what you have and what you don’t have before you send yourself to the market. This way you’ll have what you need and won’t need to make substitutions that you’re unsure of.
See, I thought for SURE we had Rice Wine Vinegar. Nope, sure didn’t. It was a bottle of Mirin, feh. Anyhoo, I subsituted good ol’ American white vinegar. Since it’s far stronger and a few other things, I only used 1/3 the amount. May not have been a deal breaker for the pancakes, but I don’t think the dipping sauce was up to par. Too darned salty & strong, for us. It was really good in small doses though. And now, the recipe!
Barrett (my interpretation) lays his Non-Traditional Scallion Pancakes like this:
Dipping Sauce
Soy Sauce 3 Tablespoons
Rice Wine Vinegar 1 Tablespoon
Garlic, big clove minced
Scallion, 1 Tablespoon minced
Pancakes:
Dry Ingredients
AP Flour 1 1/2 cups
Baking Powder 2 teaspoons
Baking Soda 1 teaspoon
Black Pepper a pinch!
Wet Ingredients
Milk 1 1/2 cups
Rice Wine Vinegar 1/4 cup
Eggs 2
Soy Sauce 2 Tablespoons
Scallions 2, white & green parts thinly sliced (I added 3 1/2)
Sesame Oil for frying on non-stick (not optional)
Oil for frying if you don’t use non-stick (I used Canola)
Prepare Dipping Sauce and set aside, need to let the flavors go.
Sift dry ingredients together, leavening agents need sifting, foo!
In another bowl, mix the milk, eggs, and soy sauce together. Mix until the eggs are well incorporated, then add the rice wine vinegar.
You’re going to want to heat up your non-stick skillet with the sesame oil at this point. I couldn’t do it, I only have one non-stick pan and it just ain’t got Elvis in it. So I chose to use the chromed griddle on my stove, hence the Oil for Frying. I figured the sesame oil would lend great flavors, so I added a quarter sized portion a few times on the griddle in the midst of the other oil. Food is all about the flavors.
Mix the Wet in to the Dry ingredients. Stir until it’s smoove. Add the scallions.
Barrett says to use a 1/3 cup to scoop up and carefully lay out your pancake. I found that a little large and wanted smaller cakes, so I used maybe 2/3 to 1/2 of that. Just carefully pour your batter out and don’t swirl it around. Cook like standard pancake, adjust heat when necessary. When the edges are browning, you can peek and underneath and see how it’s coming along. Flip when the cake is steady and won’t throw batter everywhere.
You’ll want to cook the cake completely. If you lightly smoosh center with your spatula and some raw batter comes out? It ain’t done yet.
As they’re removed from griddle, set in 150 degree oven. Or some place where they can stay nice & warm. I ate them as they came off.
And that, was pretty much that. Everyone enjoyed the pancakes, even Tiny E (5 years old), until he found out there were “GREEN THINGS” in there. Oh well, it was close. I think Barrett did quite nicely here and the only thing I would change is my lack of the correct ingredients. Thank you sir!
Biggles