Egg, Shrimp and Scallion Pancakes

After the past few meals we made for the blog, all of which were fairly meaty, I was craving an easy seafood option.  This was one of the first options that I came across in my Into the Vietnamese Kitchen cookbook and it seemed perfect - super easy, very few ingredients, and full of yummy shrimp.  At first I thought about making a shrimp stir-fry or another seafood dish (and saving this recipe for another day), but the fact that this recipe was so easy was the deciding factor seeing as I wanted to go to spinning and we had to do laundry tonight too.  There is nothing worse than trying to do laundry while cooking dinner - periodically running down to the laundry room in the basement of the building, having your dinner grow cold while you are grabbing your laundry, and then at the end of the night having a kitchen full of dirty dishes in addition to several laundry baskets full of freshly clean laundry to fold.

This is the type of dish that reminds me of something my grandmother would have made - homey, easy, and filling.  It is not a dish that you would ever find in a restaurant.  The pancakes only require 5 ingredients, plus some soy sauce or fish sauce to serve as a dipping sauce.  We served the pancakes with some of our leftover pickled carrots and daikon from our Vietnamese Noodle Combos with Vietnamese Grilled Pork Balls, but I would typically serve them with some rice.  The beauty of this dish is the simplicity of it all.  It's easy, the flavors are simple, and the pancakes are very satisfying.  It's nostalgic and comforting, like the food that any grandmother would serve.

Recipe after the jump!

Egg, Shrimp and Scallion Pancakes

Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavor

By Andrea Nguyen

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled

salt

5 eggs, beaten

2 scallions, white and green parts, chopped

canola or other neutral oil for frying

fish sauce or light (regular) soy sauce for serving

Refresh the shrimp by putting them in a colander and tossing them with a liberal amount of salt.  Rinse immediately under cold water and press gently to drain well.  Pu the shrimp in a bowl, add the eggs and scallions and mix well.

Put enough oil in a large nonstick skillet to coat the bottom thinly.  Place over medium heat and heat until a drop of egg immediately sizzles and bubbles upon contact with the oil.  To make each pancake, ladle about 2 tbsp of the egg mixture into the skillet, making sure that a few shrimp are included in each portion, and then quickly nudge the shrimp in each pool of egg so they don't overlap.  Fry only as many pancakes as will fit without crowding, about 3 pancakes at a time in a 12-inch skillet.  When the edges of the pancake are set and lightly browned, after about 2 minutes, use a spatula to carefully flip it.  (If the pancakes have stuck together, use the spatula to separate them before flipping.)  Fry for another 30 seconds to 1 minute, until browned on the second side.  Transfer the finished pancakes to a plate and keep warm while you fry the rest.

Arrange the pancakes on a platter and serve with fish sauce for dipping.