Green Onion Pancake Adventure

This summer, my mother and I spent a few weekends checking out recipes and How To's of making the Green Onion Pancake.  This is one of our favorite dish that we have eaten many many times served with rice porridge.   As plain as it may sound, we love it.  However, when I was a child, I would poke out every green onions out of the pancake.  I like the flavor, but when I was a kid, the green onions tasted like soap.  So, don't be surprised, if your children feel the same.  Young children's taste buds are just not quite the same as the adults'.
We watched YouTube instructions on the Green Onion Pancakes for the tips of this and that... not that we don't know how to make it, but I think there is something to do with the Flour in Asia and in America.  They just turn out differently.
So, this time, the right combo was:
DOUGH:
2 Cup Pastry Flour
1 Cup AP Flour
1/3 C Hot water
2/3 C water
1 tsp Kosher Sea Salt

Bunch of Green Onions and as much as you would like.
I like to put chopped Cilantro and or chopped curly Parsley.   They are great addition to the traditional green onion.
Now-a-days, I like to add extra nutritional ingredients whenever I am cooking with "Flour".  Empty flour carb is not that fun anymore.

GREEN ONIONS mix:
Chopped Green Onions  - 2 Cups
1 Cup chopped curly Parsley or Cilantro
All veges should be washed.  I saw my mother wiping the green onions stalk dry...  So I did the same.
2 Tbsp Avocado Cooking oil (non-GMO) purchased at COSTCO
Salt
3 Tbsp flour

Mix flour together with Salt.  Add 1/3 C Hot water and mix with your utensil - I used chopped stick.
Then, add 2/3 C Water slowly to form a nice soft dough.
Does not need to form into a perfect dough.
Place in a oiled bag.  Set aside in refrigerator for 30 min to 1 hour or more.

Prepare Green Onions:
Place flour and Salt in a heat proof bowl and mix.   Set aside.
In a small fry pan, Add 2 TBsp cooking oil, heat it up over medium heat.  Add HALF of chopped green onion.  Stir to coat all green onions with heated oil.   Add curley parsely.  Cook 30 sec. 
Pour the hot green onion mixture into the bowl with flour mixture.

Remove the rested dough onto a clean work surface smeared with some oil.
Roll out the dough thin.  likely be over 13x9 or more  ... I didn't measure.
Smear a tablespoon of oil over the dough.    Sprinkle with some sea salt.
Evenly smear all green onion mixture with flour and oil all around - corner to corner
Top with fresh green onion and anything else you like that would cook quickly.  NOTE:  This method is only my preference.  You can do any other way you learned.
Roll in the dough with green onion from the widest side into a long rope.
Tip:  As you roll and tuck, pull on the dough a bit to stretch the dough.

Slice into equal length.

Press down with the palm of your hand.

Roll it out.
Heat the fry pan with very very little oil or smear the oil over it.

Cook it over low heat with cover.

Turn the pancake every 1 minute or so.

Cook it till nicely browned.

These bunch looks like very thick pancake in the pictures, but that's because I ran out of the pastry flour.
You really don't want to use flour with high protein/gluten.  Only if Raley stop doing this YOYO shelving of the Bob's Red Mill flour group, I would have been able to consistently shop there.  But last week when I went, Raley don't carry it any more.  Who wants to cook with whole wheat pastry flour anyways.  Yak!  well, I don't like 'whole wheat'.
So, have fun testing recipes with your family!!!

Blueberry Muffin Cups with Almond Slivers and Raisin Crumbles

One of my favorite breakfast when Blueberries are abundantly available in the season.

Toppings:
2/3 C AP Flour
2/3  C Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
4 Tbsp Butter sliced into small pieces
1/4 C Slivered Almonds
1/2 C Organic Raisins chopped.  Softened - Soak in 1/4 C hot water

 Mix butter with flour first then add all other ingredients.

Muffins:
2-1/4 C Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
2/3 C Sugar
1 Tbsp Orange Zest
2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal
1 Tbsp Poppy seeds
1/3 C Avocado Oil (non-GMO)
1/3 C Vanilla Yogurt with 1/4 tsp Buttermilk or 1/2 C Sour cream
1/2 C milk low fat or whole

Shift dry ingredients together - flour, baking powder, soda
Preheat  oven to 425' F.
Add all other ingredients.
Mix gently.
Use 2 Tbsp cookie scooper to fill the cup molds.
Place on top of lightweight cookie sheet.
Place in center rack.
Makes 15 cup cakes in DAISO colored cupcake molds.
Bake at 425'F degree to start for 12 minutes then drop to 400'F for 5 min.
Insert tester to check doness.

Making BAO Filled with Pork and Vegetables

This is one of the few more fun preparing Chinese BAO filled with Pork and Vegetables.

DOUGH:     (doubled)
2 Cups Bob's Red Mill Pastry Flour   -  times 2 to make double:  4 C
1 Cup All Purpose unbleached unbromated flour  - times 2 make double:  2 C
1/4 Tbsp Kosher Salt - or 1/2 Tbsp Kosher Salt for double
1/2 Tbsp  Fast Rising Yeast - 1 Tbsp
1/2 Tbsp Baking Powder - 2 Tbsp
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly in a medium size mixing bowl - just use a whisk.
Warm 2 Cups of tap water.
Add 1 C warm water to mix dough with chopsticks or ladle, etc.
Make into a shaggy dough.
Add 1 Tbsp of Organic Avocado Oil
Add 1/2 C more water onto dry flour at the bottom of the bowl.
Keep mixing.
Add warm water 1 Tbsp at a time at this point until all dry flour is gone.
Start mixing by hand.
The dough should be soft.  Transfer to work surface.
Knead for 2 minutes until a good ball is formed.
Place in a lightly greased bowl.
Cover with plastic and let rise until double in size.

Prepare filling:
Ground pork - I found black pig ground pork
I had close to 540 g of ground pork
Chopped any vegetables you like.
I used Nappa Cabbage - sliced into wedges small enough to go through food processor
1/2 a cabbage   sliced into wedges small enough to go through food processor
Half of Large bunch Cilantro - washed and chopped
Food process the vegetables and squeeze all the juice out (discard juice)
Mix shredded vegetables with:
3 Tbsp Organic Less Sodium Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
3 Tbsp Oyster sauce
6 Tbsp Sesame seed oil
1 tsp white pepper
1 Tbsp Potato starch
Add ground pork and mix well but not so much that you end up with tough mixture.  Do the gentle folding motion.

Roll out the dough onto work surface.  Form into a long rope and divide into workable size.  

Portion the dough - I had 9 - 60 g/ea dough for large BAO -  and 12 - 56 g/ea for nice satisfying size BAO.   

Form into round ball - Tuck ends and extra dough during weighing and round the dough with the palm of your hand.

Keep them covered or use a cake pan with cover while you are working to fill the first dough with meat filling.

 

Prepare Steamer basket and start boiling water.

Prepare BAO Skin: 

Roll out the dough. Thinner on the outer edge.  Because you will be folding the edges together, it will even out.  Leave center thicker.   You need to have done this several times already to what is the best thickness.  The way you will be folding and pulling the dough will result in different thickness.  TIP:  You could try with a couple of them them first and let rise covered for 15 min then, steam them first to see the result.

I used Italian Mean Baller for quantity control.   It worked out very well with 60 g and 56g size dough skin

 

I thought it was too much meat filling, but it turned out A-Okay.

Pinch close with thumb with index finger curled inward.  Pinch the top by gathering the succeeding skin next to your index finger.   Pinch close the end with a twirl.  Place a cut parchment paper under it.  Cheese cloth spread over the bottom of the steam would work also, but I prefer parchment paper (organic parchment paper is even better).

 

I decided to use my bamboo steamer.  It absorbs the steam droplets better without dripping and wetting the BAO.

 

I steamed one basket layer at a time.    While one basket is steaming, prepare the 2nd basketful.  Keep the BAO covered with plastic while waiting.

Steam at high.      Steam for 20 minutes (for these sizes)  - done!  

Remove the basket over a cookie sheet.  Prop one end on the rim.

Wait for few second.  Remove the lid and transfer the Bao to cooling rack.

Perfect for my own effort.  Yum!