Dim Sumday: Scallion Pancakes

Scallion pancakes are a dim sum favorite. Savory, with a hint of onion, matched with a soy dipping sauce. But they’re also really cheap and easy to make at home. Make a paste dough, add chopped scallions (or other veggies) and fry. Today I made shallot and green chili pancakes, for all of $0.34 in vegetables, plus a little oil and some handfuls of flour.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 green chilis (jalapeno)
• 3 shallots
• Soy sauce
• Sriracha (garlic-chili) sauce
• Rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
• Sesame oil (can substitute any vegetable oil)

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. While you wait for the water to boil, seed the chilis and chop finely. Peel and chop the shallots to the similarly fine. Toss and set aside.

In a medium bowl, add the flour. With the water at a rolling boil, turn off the heat. Add a splash to the flour, about 1/3 of a cup. Mix well with a large spoon. Continue adding hot water in increments until the dough forms a ball. At some point you may have to get a hand dirty to get it to all come together, but that’s fine (though the dough can get quite warm, so be careful). Once you have your ball of dough, set it aside for 30 minutes or so.

After resting, knead your dough on a floured surface for a few minutes. Then divide into three equal portions. For each portion, first knead it a bit and then press or roll out into a thin pancake (about 1/4 inch). Take a third of your chopped veggies and sprinkle evenly over the top, then press into dough. Roll lengthwise like a jelly roll, and then roll the resulting tube into a spiral. The dough can get quite sticky, so make sure to dust your hands and work surface often with more flour. Once you have a snail-shaped roll, just press it out again into a pancake. Repeat with the other two balls of dough, and cover each one with clingfilm, wax paper, parchment or a paper towel and stack on a plate.

Grease a cookie sheet or baking pan with sesame or vegetable oil. Take one pancake and brush one side with oil. Put it oiled-side down on the cookie sheet, and then brush the top. Slide into the oven and cook for three to five minutes per side, until golden brown. Should be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Take care not to over cook or you’ll end up with a giant cracker.

Traditionally, the pancakes are fried in a hot wok or skillet, but my method doesn’t require nearly as much oil, and while a bit drier and less chewy, aren’t nearly as greasy and have a nice crunch. For the sauce, simply comine one part chili sauce and one part vinegar to two parts soy sauce. Add a little water if this is too salty or spicy for your taste. Cut the large pancakes into handy pieces for dipping into the sauce.

You can make the pancakes ahead and store in the fridge with a damp towel over them, and then cook to order. A tasty treat alongside rice and a stir fry, and they make a great party snack that even your kosher, halal and vegan guests can enjoy. I haven’t tried freezing a batch yet, but I imagine they’d do quite well stacked between wax paper and sealed in a large freezer bag. Of course, they’re great just on their own as a snack while posting a recipe to your blog!

Classy Move, Salon

I was intrigued when I found out that Anthony Bourdain was shooting an episode of his show “No Reservations” for the Travel Channel when bombs started falling on Beirut. So I was looking forward to reading his article about the experience. But in a fantastic display of shitergy, guess who was sponsoring the article on Salon? The Travel Channel! There’s even a link to the Travel Channel’s site for Bourdain and his show in the lede.

Targetting gone horribly awry or breach of the wall between editorial and advertising? I’ve got three to two on the latter. Wonder how Anthony feels about Salon and the Travel Channel teaming up to exploit his tale of time in a war zone so crassly.

Report from Bethlehem

My friend Claudia is in Israel right now, and sent out a long email to friends and family about what’s going on in the Levant. She attached the above AP photo of children on the way to school at a security checkpoint. She writes:

At the Dheisha refugee camp, a young man asked me, “what do americans think of Muslims.” After making it clear that not all Americans think the same, I told him that part of the mainstream view is that Muslims are inherently extremist and that many people believed the Quran commands followers of Islam to take part in Jihad (holy war).

“I only love Allah (God) and want nothing but blessings for the people. Why…” he explained “do they believe this???”

“Movies, George Bush, western media, ethno-centrism…I don’t really know…” I told him.

“Then they will never help us.” he said softly.

Shadow’s “The Outsider”

“I gotta stop fuckin’ wit dese hos offa Myspace, dog.”

The Round Mound — Governor’s Mansion Bound?

It’s no mystery that Charles Barkley has been rumored to be considering a run for governor in his home state of Alabama.  But the latest news is that unlike 1998, when he declared himself a Republican, this time around he says he would run as a Democrat.  To wit:

Barkley continued to identify himself as a Republican until recently, when he switched parties. “I was a Republican until they lost their minds,” he said earlier this month.

Amen, Charles.  But even funnier was the response by the state GOP leadership (or, should I say, the name of the person who made the response):

The head of the state GOP said she has no idea whether Barkley is serious when talking about a future race for governor as a Democrat. “To be governor requires more than a publicity stunt. It requires real leadership,” said Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh.

A woman named Twinkle is accusing Sir Charles of a joke candidacy?  I do declare.

As a Supressive Person, I’m Fair Game

Go ahead and disconnect now, because I’m so full of critical engrams there’s no way I’ll be an operating thetan lest I become clear on the Bridge to Total Freedom by studying the tech.  Yes, I took the 200 question Scientology personality test, and lo, I’m overly (underly?) critical!  Surprise, surprise.  I’m sure a few auditing sessions with an E-meter will fix that right up.  Only $199,999!

Reclaiming My Heritage

While the above title sounds like I’m about to go off on some white-supremacist, nativist or fundamentalist Christian rant, the heritage that I’ve lost needs reclaiming from just those sorts of folks. Did you know that Texas’ state dish, chicken fried steak, was actually introduced by German immigrants who called it schnitzel? Or that hominy grits were only introduced to the Anglo-American diet after severe outbreaks of deadly pellagra, because whites hadn’t bothered to listen to the natives and treat their corn with alkaloids to release the niacin? How about the fact that until the last two generations the average American didn’t necessarily eat meat every day (much less every meal), and when they did they stretched every little bit to flavor a diet rich in beans, whole grains and vegetables?

I’m reminded of all this by the Hillbilly Housewife, who in turn reminded me of all the culinary lessons imparted to me by my mother and her mother. Why am I bringing this up? Well, because right now I’m feeling (and am) particularly poor right now. Like rolling-the-butts-in-the-ashtray poor. And while entertaining myself for free by reading the innerweb, I snarkily followed a link to the “Fundamental 500,” a link-farm for fundamentalist Baptists who ascribe to the King James Version of the bible (search “Fundamental Baptist 500″ on Google and dozens of such sites for different denominations await your click). “What are those kooky Christians up to?” I thought to myself.

Well, the top site is something called the “The Fighting Fundamental Forums” (with recent threads like “Explain theologically the heresy of speaking in tongues” — take that you heathen Pentecostals!). There’s even a special section recently set up for non-believers (like myself), with the following rules:

If you are not a born-again Christian(atheist, agnostic, Catholic, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses etc..), I do not mind you participating in the discussion but there are a couple things to keep in mind.

1. I have setup a forum just for you to ask questions and to debate. It is called to non-believers forum. I did this so we can continue to engage in dialogue with you while not diluting to purpose of this website. You can read the other forums but you only have permission to post in the Welcome and Non-Believer Forum.

2. Please remember that you are here as a guest. If I feel that you are doing more harm than good to the forum, you will be banned.

My sincere hope is that you will see yourself as a sinner who has broken God’s law. Realize that Hell awaits you as the wages for your sin. Upon seeing this, repent(turn) from your sin and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

How inviting! But I digress. Today, the above forum received (according the Fundamental 500) more than 40,000 hits. But holding her own in third with more than 17,000 hits was the aforementioned Hillbilly Housewife. And being the big hungry son of a long line of Baptist mothers, the last two of whom weren’t big on the housewifery but were big on the greens and cream gravy, I had to click through. And let me tell you, I highly recommend it. Now let me explain.

First off, while there’s nothing snazzy about the page design, there’s nothing eye-numbingly bad, either. In fact, it’s clean and homey and probably pretty darn accessible for folks with bad eyesight or slow machines. She has a blog, complains about inflation, gas prices, the government and the state of public education, and so do I! Though, granted, we might disagree on the root cause of these symptoms. still, we’re both stuck trying to eat well on limited means. And if you don’t have faith the Good Lord will provide (again, like me), well, then maybe the innerwebs will!

The irony here is thick. I’m a single gent, of the communist-atheist bent, but I still love a full larder and the simple joys of working at home so that I can save money and my health through scratch cookery. I’d love to settle down with a nice, rich career gal and make a home. On top of that, almost every single tip and lesson on her pages were taught to me through the prism of my mother’s days as an activist in Los Angeles and Seattle trying to feed a family. It was only later in life that I made the connection between my grandmother’s same efforts to scrimp and save as a woman raising a family in rural Washington State. Either way, it was powdered milk, no-brand canned goods, beans and biscuit mix, and it was tasty.

The point is, for a generation raised on insta-this and drive-thru-that, so many foodies I know that are passionately devoted to sustainability and home cooking end up returning to the same principles that guide the humble homemaker. What’s in season is what’s cheap. What’s locally available is what’s cheap. What’s homemade is what’s cheap. And it also carries the benefits of being tastier and better for you! So if you can read through Miss Maggie’s sermonizing on the benefits of accepting Jesus into your heart, going to Sunday school, homeschooling children and deferring to your man, there’s a deeply personal cultural and culinary history on these pages that’s pretty much universal.

And frankly, the meals on the “Emergency $45 Menu” look pretty damn good to my hungry ass right now.

Bicycle Backlash?

One of the few things that I’ve always despised about the West Coast is that it was largely built for and by cars, and that car culture dominates many facets of lives here, especially in large cities besides San Francisco (where Muni seems to charge just as much aggravation as the market for car alternatives will bear).

Now I discover that a popular Portland radio jockey was heard tacitly encouraging outright violence to urban cyclists (with similar, if distinctly hyperbolic, gripes voiced here in The City by Rob Anderson and his supporters).  What was ignorance, followed by antipathy, towards the bicycle set seems to be turning antagonistic.  And of course, the folks in cars have the final say, in terms of physics (though often law as well), on the road.

And all this while environmentalism is all the rage, apparently.  And America is both winning the race for “worlds biggest lardass” and dominating the Tour de France.  It seems that simultaneous charges of elitism and violent anarchism are being sallied against pedal pushers.  In relatively progressive, urban areas, no less!

I’m trying to convince myself that this is all just anecdotal evidence with a soupcon of sensationalism, but I worry.  I really do.

CampCamp Love

A big ole’ posse o’ geeks decamped for the Sierras last weekend, and managed to survive without internet for over 48 hours without having to relive any horriffic scenes from the Donner Party’s stay in the same valley.  Granted, there was enough food from Costco to choke a bitch.

But takeaway connectivity and your innerweb superstar friends become yet another bunch of cute kids with talent from around the world.  Food, music, vertical ascents of steep peaks and sitting in the river were all accomplished with equal verve and skill.  It’s one thing to listen to the Stones’ “Wild Horses,” it’s entirely another to hear your friends sing and play it live and acoustic while loopy from altitude, sun exposure and Irish whiskey.

Good. Muthafuckin’. Times.  Thanks, ya’ll!

Lazyweb Request: In-line Blog Post Editing

Maybe this exists, and I’m just too stupid to know how to get it working (wouldn’t be the first time).  But as somebody who occassionally writes for blogs “professionally,” I would absolutely love an AJAXy tool for being able to quickly edit a post without having to navigate away from the page.  Many tools, like WordPress.com and Blogger.com, let you click an ‘edit’ link for each post if logged in and go directly to the backend.  But what if you’re scanning a whole bunch of posts on the front page of a popular blog?  It would make it so much easier to correct misuse of “their/they’re/there,” verb-subject agreement, run-on sentences and copious spelling mistakes quickly and in bulk.