What to eat with scallion pancakes, from classic Chinese recipes such as noodle soups to Singaporean style braised pork!
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Chinese Scallion Pancakes, also known as Cong You Bing, is a flatbread that is a popular street food in Asia that can also be found at Dim Sum restaurants. It's often eaten as breakfast or as a snack!
If you don't have your go-to recipe, do give my 4-ingredient Chinese Green Onion pancake a try!
Note: not to be confused with Pajeon or Korean green onion pancakes!
Dipping Sauces
The most important thing to serve with scallion pancakes is the classic dipping sauce! If not, the pancakes will lack flavor.
The traditional dip is an easy to make, tangy and savory sesame oil-soy sauce- vinegar mix. (Start with equal parts soy sauce and white rice vinegar, then season with some sugar, spring onions and a drizzle of sesame oil. Taste and add more vinegar or soy as you like!
You can also try something different, like this Filipino lime soy sauce!
Salads
Cucumber salad
The cucumbers not only complement the nutritional profile of the spring onion pancakes, they also provide a delicious and slightly spicy chili sauce to dip the pancakes in!
Green Salad
Or a simple vegetable salad with a light tangy dressing would do nicely too!
Asian Chicken Salad
Although the pancakes are delicious, they're quite carb heavy, so I suggest a fibre and protein-rich dish such as a chicken salad. This is also the perfect way to use up leftover roast meat, so it's wallet-friendly too!
Soups
Whilst you can certainly pair the Chinese flatbread with anything you wish, I personally do not recommend fried rice or white rice as the meal will be much too dry and heavy with all the carbs! (If you're on a low-carb diet, try these Keto Chinese recipes.)
Go for noodles and soup instead!
Wonton Soup
Egg Drop Soup
This is an easy 10-minute version of the classic Chinese egg soup recipe.
Foods with Sauce
It's nice to have some extra sauce to dip the green onion pancakes in!
Ma Po Tofu
This spicy tofu dish involves diced soft tofu stir-fried chili oil and Szechuan peppercorns
Braised Beef
This is a hearty and very flavorful dish in which beef is braised with soy sauce, garlic, ginger and spices such as star anise till tender. The savory sauce goes well with the Chinese savory pancakes.
Tau Yew Bak
If you don't eat beef, try braised pork belly!
Congee
Scallion pancakes are a bit like You Tiao (Chinese fried breadsticks), which taste best dipped in something nice and hot, like a steaming bowl of jook!
Tea
Though delicious, these pancakes do soak up some oil and Chinese tea is great for washing down excess oil! You can go with jasmine tea, oolong tea, tieguanyin, pu er OR try 1 of the following caffeine free herbal teas!
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