Spring onion pancake (Cong you bing)

Today I’m going to share with you one of the most extraordinary recipes from my childhood – Spring Onion Pancakes (Cong You Bing).

When I was little my mom was a busy working woman and so my sister and I were often looked after by our Grandma. These spring onion pancakes were one of our Grandma’s signature dishes – she cooked them almost every day for breakfast along with hot, savoury soy milk. Yes, salty!! I know it may not suit all European tastes. 😅

Later, we moved to the city to be closer to my mom’s work while my grandparents stayed in the country. Sadly, my Grandma passed away shortly after we moved and I didn’t have the pancakes for a long time afterwards.

When I was 15 I finally decided to try and recreate my Grandma’s recipe, and now I’d like to share it with you too! It’s a simple pancake that bursts with a strong spring onion flavour. They’re perfect for a mouth-watering breakfast alternative, or to be eaten as a delicious midday snack or side dish.

Let’s begin!

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and dissolve the salt into the hot water.

Slowly add the hot water to the flour, stirring all the time.

Gradually add the cold water to the mix, bringing it together to form a dough. Knead well for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth. Roll it into a ball, cover with cling film or a kitchen towel and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

While the dough rests, finely slice the spring onion. Make sure the spring onion is really finely chopped – you can always use a food processor to make it easier.

Combine the spring onion with the rest of the filling ingredients in a small mixing bowl and set aside.

Lightly sprinkle flour over the worktop, take the now rested dough and knead it for another 2-3 minutes and then divide into 4 equal-sized parts.

Roll each part out into a long thin piece.

Try to get each piece as thin as you can without tearing the dough – I usually find this is about 35-40cm in length.

Spread 1/4 of the filling evenly over the thin dough.

Fold it lengthways into the centre to form a long strip.

Coil the strip up into a tight spiral.

Put each dough spiral between 2 layers of cling film and roll it out until it turns into a thin, circle-shaped pancake.

Repeat with the remaining dough until you get 4 lovely pancakes – all 3-5mm thick. If you’d prefer, you can also prepare these pancakes the night before, they keep well wrapped in cling firm for one or two days.

It’s cooking time! Remove the pancake from the cling film and place in a large, non-stick frying pan on a high heat for 3-5 minutes, until it goes golden brown.

Flip the pancake over and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Once cooked, remove the pancake from the pan and repeat the process with the remaining dough.

Let it cool for a few minutes and then cut the pancake into quarters and serve with your favourite sauce. For me, that’s a mix of chilli oil, sesame oil, light soy, and freshly chopped onion… it’s so simple but sooo good.

This spring onion pancake (cong you bing) is a popular dish all over China and is often eaten for breakfast or as a side dish. Each region and family will adapt it slightly to suit their tastes but this is my version – a taste of my childhood and my Grandma’s soul – and I hope you like it. You may also want to check out my other Asian breakfast / snack / side dis recipe, kale and mushroom puff dumpling.

Let me know if you try out this recipe. You can leave a comment below, or take a picture and tag it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!