The Frugal Gourmet: Hunan Onion Cake

I'm back with another recipe! This time, I decided to cook a dish that I could have as a quick appetizer, so I went with Jeff Smith's Hunan onion cake recipe.

Ingredients

Smith's recipe for Hunan onion cake is straightforward and only requires tortillas, sesame oil, green onions, egg, and frying oil. The reason why the dish is very simple is because, "The Chinese dinner does not have a single dish that is the center of the meal. Rather, many dishes are served, in small amounts, of course" (Smith 351). With this in mind, I knew that the onion cake would be a sort of 'snack' rather than a whole meal.

The recipe itself uses a method of pressing tortillas brushed with an egg mixture together, with green onions in between. It's a much simpler version of a Bengali dish which I have grown up with-Mughlai paratha. Mughlai paratha is basically bread with an omelet inside. You have to fold it in a way so that the egg doesn't spill out of the bread when frying, which can be harder for newer cooks. Smith mentions that recipes with wheat are very common in the Hunan region of China, and it's usually made from scratch but he recommends using tortillas instead of homemade dough for a more precise result (Smith 352).

I mixed the sesame oil and water into the whisked egg, and then brushed this onto one side of a wheat tortilla. Next, I sliced up some green onions and sprinkled my desired amount onto the egg-coated side of the tortilla.To make it into a 'cake', you take another tortilla and brush the egg mixture onto it, and press down against the tortilla with the green onion. This method is very similar to making a sandwich!

Brushing on the egg wash

Sprinkling on the sliced green onion

I repeated this process three times, and placed wax paper between each tortilla to ensure they wouldn't stick together. When I completed the preparation of the onion cakes, I put weight on the stack per Smith's instructions, for about fifteen minutes. You can see below that I used jars and bottles in my kitchen, and also a meat tenderizer to ensure that the edges were sealed.

Pressing the onion cakes

To cook the cakes, I fried them in canola oil. The recipe suggests peanut oil, but I used canola instead since it was handy. The frying process is short and only takes a few minutes, but if you haven't sealed the edges properly the cakes will displace.

These cakes were crispy and delicious! I admit to being skeptical that Smith didn't add any salt, but the sesame oil ended up flavoring the tortillas very well. I would say this is the most successful dish I have done so far, since I enjoyed cooking it and can repeat this recipe again.

The finished cake, cut into wedges

Have you eaten a dish from outside of your culture that reminded you of a dish that your family enjoys? If so, have you recreated the dish before?


Smith, Jeff. “China: Hunan Treasures.” The Frugal Gourmet, Ballantine Books, 1984, pp. 351–352.

America's Most Wanted Recipes - Olive Garden Bread Sticks

America's Most Wanted Recipes - Sage Richardson

The amount of times I've heard people say, "Man, I'm craving those Olive Garden bread sticks!" is immeasurable. I myself had never tried them until recently, and for the first time ever, I can agree with the statement above! So I grabbed my handy dandy recipe book, and voilà! There was the copycat recipe, renown for being "fast, simple, and virtually indistinguishable from the original" (Douglas, xi). Now, I'm here to share it with you!

Chopped butter

Ingredients (bread sticks)

- 1 loaf frozen bread dough
- Cooking spray
- Garlic powder (for dusting)
- Dried oregano (for sprinkling)

(Douglas, 136)

While the recipe calls for store-bought frozen bread dough, I decided to challenge myself and create the bread dough myself. Therefore I substituted the store-bought bread dough with homemade bread dough, according to my great grandma Lucille's recipe.

Mixing in butter (as for pie crust)

Ingredients (bread dough)

- 3 c. flour
- 1/3 c. sugar
- 1/2 lb. butter
- 1/4 c. warm water
- 1 package yeast
- 3/4 c. milk
- 2 eggs slightly beaten
- 1 additional cup flour

Yeast before

Instructions (bread dough)

- Mix dry ingredients, excepting the additional cup of flour.
- Add yeast to water, let sit until it's risen.
- Cut up butter, put in as you would for pie crust.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
- Mix in mixer until a dough forms.
- Add additional cup flour, mix until dough ball forms.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Cut dough ball into 4 equal parts.
- Cut each of those into 8 equal parts, making each chunk of dough look like a slice of pie.
-  Roll each piece from the wide end forward, forming a crescent      shape.

Yeast after

- Let stand for 2-3 hours to rise at room temperature.

(Lucille Bennett)

After I made the bread dough, I continued with the bread stick recipe.


Instructions (bread sticks)

- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Hold can of cooking spray about 8 inches from rolls and lightly spray the top of each one.
- Dust evenly with garlic powder.

- Sprinkle evenly with oregano.

Before bread stick topping

- Place in oven, cook for 10-15 minutes

Rolls rising

(Douglas, 136)

All in all, this variation of Olive Garden bread sticks was absolutely delicious! I served it with "alfredo and marinara dipping sauce," as recommended by the author (Douglas, 136). In comparison to the real thing, the topping wasn't as salty as the restaurant kind. But I do like the roll rather than the bread stick, because the roll is fluffier and a bit sweeter. Despite the slight differences, this recipe definitely conquered my craving! Have you had any persistent cravings lately? If so, what for? Thanks for reading, I hope you can find this recipe helpful!

Final product!

Douglas, Ron. America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from Your Family's Favorite Restaurants. 1st ed. New York N.Y.: Atria Paperback, 2009. Print.