These are old fashioned Chinese pancakes made with zucchini from a fabulous Chinese food blog called Chinese Sichuan Food. I love these pancakes so much that I've made them 3 or 4 times in the last month. I make them for breakfast as well as making mini ones to serve as appetisers!
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time5 minutesmins
Total Time15 minutesmins
Course: Breakfast, Starter
Cuisine: Asian, Chinese
Servings: 4pancakes
Calories: 478cal
Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Ingredients
Batter
1large zucchini, grated (1 1/2 cups, not packed in)
Use a cheese grater and grate the zucchini straight into a medium size bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix until just combined. Don't mix too much, just until it is just combined because otherwise you will overwork the flour and the pancake will be tough and hard. The batter will be quite thick, thicker than you expect. It will thin out in the next step.
Set aside for 15 minutes. During this time the zucchini will sweat water. Give the batter a quick stir to mix the water in.
While the batter is set aside, combine the Dipping Sauce ingredients in a small bowl then set aside.
Heat oil in a large heavy based fry pan over medium high heat.
Scoop up 1/2 cup (levelled) of batter and place in the pan. Use the bottom of the cup measure (or a spoon) to pat/spread the batter to make a circle that is roughly 12cm / 5 inches in diameter. Repeat with remaining batter (or cook in batches of 2 if your fry pan is not large enough).
Cook each side for 1 1/2 minutes until golden brown.
Serve immediately, scattered with extra shallots/scallions with the dipping sauce on the side.
Notes
1. Chinese Five Spice is really common these days and in Australia you can certainly get it at all the large supermarkets and grocery stores (Coles, Woolworths, Harris Farms, Aldis) in the dried herbs and spice section. Chinese Five Spice is a spice mix made up of (surprisingly) five spices - star anise, fennel, sichuan pepper, Chinese cinnamon and cloves. It is no more expensive than other every day spices.2. Chinese black vinegar is sold at Asian grocery stores and is very cheap, usually $2 - $3 for a large bottle. If you can't find it, you can substitute with 1 tsp of malt (brown) vinegar or balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp of rice wine vinegar (which you can get at supermarkets or Asian grocery stores).3. Use any chili paste or sauce you want/have to add a bit of heat. I use a Chinese chili paste which is like crushed dried chili in chili oil. I got this from an Asian grocery store for a couple of dollars. But often I just add a squirt of sriracha because I always have it on hand.4. These are best served immediately. If you cool then reheat them in the oven, do so on a rack (so the bottom doesn't go soggy). But like any pancake, I find they are best served fresh.5.