Traditional Green Onion Cakes

Would you believe Edmonton, Alberta is famous for their Traditional Green Onion Cakes? If this surprises you, well you are not alone for it surprised me too. There is one man to thank for this delicious treat in our YEG hood, and that is Siu To. He brought his traditional green onion cake to the streets of Edmonton and we can’t seem to get enough.

I really enjoy making these cakes. The dough comes together very nicely and the recipe is one that is extremely easy to follow. A great thing to keep in mind is the knowledge that these cakes freeze extremely well. In fact, Siu would recommend you actually cook them from frozen. There is a reason for this and it has a scientific undertone.

Cooking these Traditional Green Onion Cakes from frozen allows for the moisture trapped within the layers during freezing, to be released during cooking. The steam evaporating helps to puff up the pancake and creates lovely visible layers of flakey dough.

Although Siu serves his cakes with Sambal hot sauce only, I prefer a sweet hot flavour therefor I drizzle honey over my cakes before serving. Either way is great and feel free to experiment with combinations you like at home as well.

I trust you will enjoy these just as much as we do here in YEG! Bon appetite.

Traditional Green Onion Cakes

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 6 minutes

Ingredients

1. 4 cups of all purpose flour
2. 1 teaspoon baking powder
3. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4. 450 mL water
5. 1/4 cup shortening
6. 1/4 cup vegetable oil
7. 1 tsp sesame oil
8. 2 tsp salt
9. 2-3 bunches of chopped green onions

Instructions

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and water in a large bowl.

2. Knead the dough until texture is the same as your cheek.

3. Cover the bowl with a towel and set aside.

4. Mix together the shortening, vegetable oil, sesame oil, salt and green onions.

5. Spread out the dough into a circular shape and flatten 1 cm. thin with a rolling pin.

6. Spread out the green onion mixture onto the dough.

7. From bottom, stretch the dough and roll it inwards until it is a long, baguette-like roll.

8. Cut it into eight rectangular pieces.

9. Squeeze and pinch the ends shut.

10. Flatten each into a pancake shape and store between two rectangular sheets of parchment paper.

11. Heat oil in a frying pan.

12. Place cake and pan fry until golden brown on each side. (about 3 minutes per side)

Serve these with Sambal Hot Sauce and a honey drizzle.