This year, the dates of Hanukkah and Christmas aligned, and Jews faced a choice of Talmudic proportions: Chinese food or Hanukkah specialties?
To answer a question with a question: Why choose?
Enter flip-side scallion pancake latkes. One side latke, one side scallion pancake. Good with soy-ginger-vinegar dipping sauce, good with sour cream.
Rather than a point-by-point recipe, I’m giving you basic instructions and links.
Here’s the general idea:
- Make a good scallion pancake dough. I like this recipe, but use your favorite. I made it gluten-free by substituting in a mixture of about 1 part tapioca flour/starch, 1 part sticky rice flour/sweet rice flour, and 2 parts all-purpose gluten-free flour blend. (I like Manini’s, but pick your favorite.)
- Make latke batter. I don’t use a recipe, but this one describes what I do pretty closely.
- Roll out some scallion pancakes into small circles, about two or three inches across and 1/4 inch thick. If you’re making a very small batch, you can do these individually, but it’s a bit of a pain, since it involves lots of folding in layers of sesame oil and scallions and re-rolling to get layers. It’s easier if you roll out your dough and cut circles or ovals out of it with a cookie cutter or glass.
- Dollop some latke batter on top of each pancake, about 1/4 inch thick.
- Heat oil with a good smoke point. I used sunflower oil with a dash of toasted sesame oil.
- When it’s hot, fry the scallion pancake side first. When it has brown spots, flip the pancakes over and fry the latke side until it’s crispy and brown. Drain on plates with paper towels.
Serve with dipping sauce (see the scallion pancake recipe) and/or sour cream.
Seattle Local Food 