L-R… Cong You Bing / Rolling up the scallions in the dough / inside view of the bing
Living in Chicago and being far away from Chinatown means that I can’t easily spoil myself with my Mama’s home cooking, or simply eat out at my favorite Chinese restaurant. While this has made me a little sad, there is also a bright side. (Team Glass Half Full: win!) The bright side is, I’ve had to start making a lot of my favorite food from scratch. This has been a wonderful way for me to eat healthier and preserve parts of my Chinese culture.
This past weekend, I had two dear friends over for xi fan since they’ve never had it before. For those who aren’t familiar, xi fan* is rice porridge that is common in virtually all Asian countries. (Xi fan is also known as congee, juk, zhou, etc.) I didn’t feel I could serve guests xi fan by itself, so I decided to make cong you bing,* aka scallion pancakes, to go with it. And guess how I learned to make it… from a Chinese cooking show someone uploaded onto YouTube! I watched the whole thing, pausing it to stop and write down instructions, and then had a go at it with my own little modifications the next morning. They were so delicious – hot and chewy with multiple layers of goodness; perfect dipped in xi fan, stuffed with soy sauce scrambled eggs, or on their own.
