This recipe for gluten free scallion pancakes with dipping sauce is just like at the Chinese restaurant—but gluten free!
Just like I remade my gluten free won ton wrappers in the image of the Flour Tortillas in Gluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread, I made simply the best gluten free scallion pancakes ever. And did I mention that they're super easy to work with, too? Oh, well, they are. Indeed, they are! Once again, it's time for some Chinese Take In.
Light and flaky, crispy and chewy all at the very same time, scallion pancakes are something I bet you miss from your free-wheeling, gluten-eating days. Well, they're back, baby, and better than ever! I shape them a bit differently, though, than the traditional way. I find they're much easier to work with this way, but still just as flaky.
The traditional way of making scallion pancakes is to roll out the pancake dough into a round, brush it with oil, roll it into a cylinder like a jelly roll, spiral the cylinder into a coil before rolling it out again (and then do it again, but sprinkle scallions after brushing with oil).
I tried it that way, and I found that the dough was much more prone to separating from itself after you roll out the coiled dough. Instead, since the purpose of all the rolling, brushing, coiling and rolling is to create flaky layers of dough separated by a thin layer of oil, I decided to treat the dough like puff pastry and do the “turns.”
That means just folding the dough like a business letter, and then again into a packet, and rolling out the dough. I find that it stays together much better, and is much less frustrating in general.
The Expandex in the dough makes it incredibly easy to handle. Just make sure you follow the directions carefully, and don't sprinkle the dough with extra flour until right before you roll out the packet of dough for the final time.
That way, it stays together really well. If the dough becomes difficult to handle at all, just chill it in the refrigerator for a few minutes first.