Sanxing Scallion Pancake 三星葱油饼

Sanxing Scallion Pancake (三星葱油饼) is a pan-fried pancake filled with scallions from Sanxing Township (三星乡) in Yilan County (宜兰县), Taiwan. Sanxing is an important farming township in Yilan, known for Sanxing scallions (三星葱). Township head Huang Hsi-yung (黄锡墉) described the pancake in 2018 as an early farmhouse snack that has become the dish visitors to Sanxing make a point of eating.

Ingredients

The scallion is the point. The Sanxing Township Office describes the township as the highest part of the Lanyang Plain (兰阳平原) and the 'water head' of the plain, where the water is cleaner than elsewhere and mist gathers against the mountains, and it names scallions and garlic among the crops this setting produces. The township head described Sanxing scallions as having long white stalks, a fine texture and a strong scallion flavour. Chinese Wikipedia's article on the Taiwanese scallion cake, which it calls a well-known snack of Greater Taipei, says the filling commonly uses Sanxing scallions from Yilan and that they must be very fresh.

How it is made

The same article describes the method. Flour is made into a dough and paired with large pieces of scallion seasoned with salt and pepper. The pancake is coiled round and round like a snail shell. Because the crust is thick and the scallion pieces are large, it is pan-fried in oil for at least ten minutes, with the heat watched so the crust does not burn. In Sanxing the scallion comes in several forms: the traditional pancake, a newer scallion pie (葱油派) and a thick filled scallion cake (葱馅饼).

Where it comes from

Chinese Wikipedia traces the scallion cake to Taiwan's early farming society, when poor families wrapped chopped scallion in flour dough and fried it. Sanxing Township Office held a scallion pancake contest in 2014, and in July 2017 it began awarding a 'township pancake' (乡饼) certification plaque to local makers; by January 2018 twelve had received it. The Sanxing District Farmers' Association has included scallion pancake making at its Scallion and Pussy Willow Festival (青葱银柳节).