Spring Onion Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 /2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 honey
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for rolling and frying
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 350 g plain flour
• 6 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 /4 teaspoon chinese five-spice powder
• sesame seed
• crispy chili oil, for serving)
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Combine 300g of the plain flour with 1/2 tsp salt in a medium bowl, stir well, and make a well in the centre. The salt goes in now — this is your only chance to season the dough itself.
2. Pour the 150ml boiling water into the well, mixing with chopsticks or the handle of a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. The hot water partially cooks the flour, which is what gives these pancakes their tender, pliable texture rather than a tough chew. Let it cool for a minute or two until you can handle it.
3. Bring the dough together with your hands, adding cold water a tablespoon at a time only if dry flour remains. Knead on a clean surface for about 5 minutes until smooth, firm and elastic — it should feel like a soft earlobe. Return to the bowl, cover, and rest for 30 minutes. Skip the rest and the dough fights you when you roll.
4. Meanwhile, make the flaky paste: put the remaining 50g flour in a small bowl and slowly stir in the 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 tbsp sesame oil until you have a loose, glossy paste. Stir in the five-spice and a pinch of salt. Bloom the five-spice into the warm oil-flour paste for a moment as you mix — raw spice tastes dusty, oil-coated spice tastes of itself.
5. Whisk the dipping sauce: 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar and 1 tsp honey in a small bowl until the honey dissolves. Taste it — most of the salt comes from the soy, but the splash of vinegar is what keeps it from going flat. Adjust now, not at the table.
6. Divide the rested dough into 6 equal pieces and cover loosely with a tea towel so they don't dry out and crack.
7. Working with one piece at a time on a lightly oiled surface, roll out into a thin rectangle, roughly 10 x 25cm. Spread 2 tsp of the flaky paste over the dough, leaving a 1cm border, then scatter generously with chopped spring onion and a pinch of sesame seeds.
8. Roll up tightly from a long edge into a thin rope, stretching gently as you go — the thinner the rope, the more layers you'll get. Coil the rope into a snail and tuck the end underneath. Flatten gently with your palm, then roll out to a pancake about 15cm across. Don't press too hard or the layers fuse. Repeat with the remaining dough.
9. Heat a thin film of oil in a heavy frying pan over medium heat until it shimmers. Fry each pancake for 2–3 minutes per side, pressing lightly with a spatula, until deeply golden with visible flaky layers and a crisp shell. Don't crowd the pan — one at a time, or two at most in a large pan. Crowd them and the temperature drops, oil soaks in, and you get pale, greasy pancakes instead of crisp lacquered ones. Taste a corner of the first one and adjust the salt scatter on the rest if needed.
10. Drain briefly on kitchen paper and cut into wedges. Pile the wedges onto a board, scatter with extra sliced spring onion and toasted sesame seeds, and set the soy dipping sauce and crispy chilli oil alongside for dunking.