Crisp, flaky Taiwanese scallion pancakes (cong you bing) topped with pan-seared salmon and a five-spice soy dipping sauce.
Cong you bing, Taiwanese scallion pancakes, are a genuine street-food and breakfast staple built on a laminated dough technique, not a batter — the dough is rolled thin, brushed with oil, rolled up like a cinnamon bun with scallions inside, then coiled and rolled flat again before frying. That lamination is what gives the finished pancake its distinct flaky, layered texture rather than the dense chew of a simple flatbread. This version pairs the pancakes with pan-seared salmon, a common upscale addition at Taiwanese breakfast shops and night markets that want a heartier version of the classic. The salmon is seared hard, skin-side down, until crisp, then flaked over the warm pancake and finished with a soy, rice wine and five-spice dipping sauce that echoes the seasoning used in Taiwanese braises. The technique that matters most, beyond the lamination, is frying the pancake in a generous amount of oil over medium heat rather than high heat — this lets the inner layers cook through and separate before the outside burns. Done right, you get a pancake that shatters into flaky layers with each bite, a texture that a simple pancake batter can't replicate.
Serves 4
Stir boiling water into flour and salt until shaggy, then add cold water and knead into a smooth dough, about 6 minutes. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each into a thin oval, brush with oil, sprinkle with scallions, then roll up tightly like a cinnamon roll, coil into a spiral and flatten with a rolling pin into a disk.
The rolling-and-coiling step is what creates the flaky layers — don't skip it even if it feels fussy the first time.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry each pancake 3 to 4 minutes per side until golden and crisp, pressing gently with a spatula so it cooks evenly.
Season salmon with salt and five-spice. Heat remaining oil in a separate pan over medium-high heat and sear skin-side down for 4 minutes until crisp, then flip and cook 2 more minutes.
Whisk together soy sauce, rice wine, rice vinegar and sesame oil in a small bowl.
Flake the salmon over the warm pancakes and serve with the soy dipping sauce on the side.
Use boiling water for the dough, not cold — hot water partially cooks the starch and gives the pancake its chewy-flaky texture instead of a tough one.
Roll the dough as thin as you can before adding scallions; thicker dough means fewer visible layers once fried.
Fry over medium, not high, heat — high heat burns the outside before the inner layers finish cooking through.
Classic version: skip the salmon entirely and serve the pancakes plain with the soy dipping sauce, the traditional street-food way.
Egg-topped: crack an egg onto the pancake while it's still frying for a dan bing-style breakfast.
Extra spice: add a spoonful of chili oil to the dipping sauce for more heat.
Store unfried dough disks between parchment in the fridge for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to a month. Cooked pancakes are best fresh but can be reheated in a dry skillet to re-crisp.
Cong you bing has roots in Chinese laminated flatbreads brought to Taiwan by mainland migrants in the mid-20th century, and it has since become a fixture of Taiwanese breakfast shops and night markets in its own right.
Yes, the rolled and coiled dough disks freeze well uncooked — just thaw in the fridge overnight and flatten again before frying.
This usually means the dough wasn't rolled thin enough before coiling, or too little oil was brushed on between layers. Both are what create the separation that makes it flaky.
A pinch each of ground star anise, cinnamon and clove gets close, though it's worth buying a small jar of five-spice since it's used across many Taiwanese and Chinese dishes.
Per serving (300g / 10.6 oz) · 4 servings total
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