Eggy Pancake

I have heard many people like Chinese scallion pancakes. I like the ones my mum made at home in Beijing too. She said her trick of making them delicious was to use coarse salt and sprinkle duck fat in the pancake to lift the flavour. We don't have duck fat readily available here and we are trying to have low-sodium diet these days. So I have asked her to make the eggy pancake for me in New York home.

She prepared home made pancake first and then added the egg omelet on the pancake. Since it is intended for a quick meal, I won't get into how to make the pancakes because to make the eggy pancake with substitutes is really simple and easy.

Treat it like an eggy sandwich or eggy bread. You can get some pitta bread or nan from the grocery stores. After pouring the beaten eggs in the flat pan matching the size of the pitta bread, spread some chopped green onions around the omelet, then as the omelet is about to become firm press the pitta bread down.

After the two layers stick together, the pancake is done. To jazz it up, you can create any version by adding a variety of sausages, salami or spinach etc to your taste.

Potstickers

If you are unfamiliar with the name "Potstickers", it means dumplings that stick to the bottom of the pot (ideally a flat pan) when being cooked. They look the same as dumplings wrapped in flour shells but served crispy at the bottom. You can also call them pan-fried dumplings.

While the fillings are mostly made of ground meat, vegetarian fillings are as delicious because their pan-fried bottoms add the rich flavour. They are however, far lighter in cholesterol than deep-fried dumplings.

Recently I was looking for a proper-sized grilling pan with a lid to make potstickers. We found the best is actually our home-style Japanese grilling pan. Many of you have had Japanese grill before. We are lucky to have an electronic one at home (available at Asian supermarkets).

After a few tries, everybody in the family loves using it. All they need to do is to plug in the grill and follow the below steps.

HOW TO PREPARE:
* Heat a flat pan with a few drops of oil to lightly cover the pan (or brush lightly with oil);
* When the pan is hot and smoky, line the dumplings in the pan;
* With the lid of the pan in your left hand, pour hot water over to cover 1/4" of the bottom of the dumplings and immediately close the lid;
* Keep the lid closed, while the water steams until the sound of sizzling is clearly heard;
* Take off the lid, check if all water is evaporated and the bottoms are crispy;
* Serve with light soy sauce, vinegar or chilly sauce as you like;
(See Home Made Dumplings for dumpling recipes)

Don't worry if the fillings inside are uncooked or frozen. The beauty of this way of cooking is that the dumplings are nicely steamed on the top and sizzled at the bottom. By the time the water is evaporated, all fillings are deliciously steamed and you can still enjoy the crunchiness at the bottom of the dumplings. Everyone of them is made to satisfaction.