Cong You Bing
Cong You Bing or scallion pancake is a savory, non-leavened flatbread folded with
oil and minced
scallions (green onions). It originates in Chinese culture. Unlike a true pancake, it is made from dough instead of batter. Variations exist on the basic method of preparation that incorporate other flavors and fillings.
Scallion pancakes are available in mainland China, Taiwan, and other areas of the world with ethnic Chinese populations, in restaurants and as a street food item, and are also commercially available packaged fresh or frozen solid in plastic packages
Variations and accompaniments
Other ingredients, such as chopped fennel greens and
sesame seeds are sometimes added with the green onions. In some variants, green onions may be omitted and replaced by another filling of choice such as corn and
diced bell peppers.
Another method for cooking scallion pancakes is to fry them with
eggs coated on one side. There is another snack found in Taiwanese culture called the egg pancake, which is almost identical to the scallion pancake except that the dough of the egg pancake is thinner and moister.
A similar pancake may be made with
garlic chives (jiucai) instead of scallions. Such a pancake is called a jiucai bing or jiucai you bing.
One variation involves leavening the dough and not flattening up the coil into a pancake. The coil is then fried or baked into a bread.
In North America, the pancakes are often served with
soy sauce, hot chili sauce, or Vietnamese dipping sauce.
A Chinese dessert, the red bean pancake, is a variant in which green onions and salt are replaced with a sweet red bean paste.
