Green Onion Pancake DIY. Yilan Sanxing Township.

聽過蔥油餅嗎？蔥油餅是台灣常見的路邊攤美食，一種麵餅裡裹蔥的小吃。台灣人作菜，總少不了蔥，就算有些料理不需要蔥來提味，也會在菜上頭撒一點蔥花，為的是視覺上的好看。台灣人太愛吃蔥了，想當然爾,蔥油餅在這裡當然是很受歡迎的！前些日子，我跑到了蔥的故鄉－宜蘭三星鄉，跟著當地農夫下蔥田採蔥、洗蔥，然後做蔥油餅，相當棒的體驗，也分享給你們大家。

Ｈave you heard of the Green Onion Pancake? Green Onion Pancake is a common street vendor food in Taiwan. It is a pancake with green onions embedded. Green onion is always needed when the dishes are made. Sprinkle some chopped green onions on top of the dishes can also make it attractive. Of course, we love green onions and they make green onion pancakes popular! A couple weeks ago, I came to the green onion town- Sanxing Township, Yilan to experience picking, washing, and making green onion pancakes with the farmer! What a great experience! I would like to share with you all.

「三星蔥」是台灣最具知名度的青蔥！三星蔥的蔥白特別長，而且沒有一般蔥的刺鼻辛味，吃起來脆甜鮮美，只要簡單清炒就十分好吃。蔥仔寮體驗農場的李先生簡單介紹完三星蔥後，便帶著大家下蔥田，並示範如何採蔥。

“Sanxing Green Onion” is the most well known green onion in Taiwan. Unlike other green onions with the pungent smell, Sanxing green onion has longer white stem with a crispy delicious taste after it is stir fried. After a brief introduction and demonstration by Mr. Lee in the Green Onion DIY Farm, we went into the filed to pick the green onions ourselves.

採蔥並不難，但也是有技巧的。採蔥時虎口朝下，抓住蔥白處拔起即可，千萬不可只抓蔥綠的部份，這樣會把蔥弄斷的。

It is not hard to pick the green onions; it just needs some techniques. Hold the white stem part and pull it out. Don’t pull it by holding the green stem part that can break the entire stem.

採完蔥之後就是洗蔥了，在宜蘭三星蔥到處都可以見到的這樣的洗蔥池。

註：因為連續下了二周的雨的關係，洗蔥池裡的水看起來很混沌，等天氣好後，就會恢復原來乾淨的樣子了。

After the green onions were picked, they needed to be washed. A lot of green onion washing ponds are present in the Sanxing Township.

PS: The water looks muddled after a 2-day rain. It gets clear after a few days.

材料：中筋麵粉600g、熱水300g、冷水100g、蔥末、白胡椒鹽（低鹽）、油

Ingredients: All-purpose flour 600g, hot water 300g, cold water 100g, chopped green onions, white peppers (less salt), and oil.

步驟：

1. 把麵粉全數倒入鋼盆，接著倒入剛滾好的熱水，用筷子或攪拌棒和勻。這個步驟叫「燙麵」，讓蔥油餅的口感可以更柔Ｑ，而不會太過乾硬。

2. 接著倒入冷水後，開始「和麵」。麵團要和到不黏手不黏鍋後，再拿到桌上來繼續「揉麵」，揉到不黏桌且麵團成光滑樣為止。

3. 用包鮮膜或塑膠袋包覆好（空氣要完全擠掉），放至一個小時「醒麵」。

4. 麵團醒好後，把它分成十小塊。在桌上倒一點油，再取一小塊麵團，開始桿麵，桿成薄的長圓形。

5. 把蔥末加入適量的白胡椒鹽，均勻攪拌。再取適量均鋪於麵皮上。

6. 接著，把麵皮捲起來，捲成長條狀後，再捲成鍋牛狀，收尾。

7. 放至五分鐘後，就可以壓平，下鍋煎囉！

Steps:

1. Stir well the flour mixed with boiled water to make the flour texture flexible and less hard.

2. Add cold water and then start to knead the flour. Keep kneading until it is not sticky in hands and table to become smooth dough.

3. Place the dough in a plastic bag or wrapped with wrapper (seal well with no air in it) and wait for an hour.

4. Divide the dough into 10 small pieces. Add a bit oil on the table and roll a piece of dough into a thin round shape.

5. Sprinkle chopped green onion and white pepper on top.

6. Roll it up to become a long round shape, and curl it up into a small round dough.

7. After it sits for five munities, flatten the dough and fry it in the pan.

李先生示範完後，就是我們大顯身手的時候了。因為時間的關係，我們是從醒好的麵團開始做。右下角那張，是我的人生第一個蔥油餅成品，看起來應該還不賴吧！

After the demonstration, we started to make our own. Due to the limited time, the dough was readily provided so we skipped this process to start step 4. The right bottom photo showing the pancake that I made, not bad, isn’t it?

同行的友人個個都很認真的做餅，玩的相當很開心。當然愛吃蔥的我們，肯定是包了一堆蔥在裡頭！桿完後，當然就是下油鍋煎囉～煎的啪嗞啪嗞的，雖然看起來有點油膩，但香氣襲人的，讓人口水直流。

We all carefully made our pancakes and we had so much fun. We added lots of chopped green onion since we all love to eat green onion. After they were made, it was time to fry them in the pan. It looks a bit greasy, but it smelled so good and made my mouth watering.

好不好吃？這還用說呀，看我朋友的表情也知道一定很好吃！說真的，皮香酥內軟Q，而且每一口都有鮮甜的蔥料與蔥汁，真的太好吃了！

My friend’s facial expression can tell you how it tastes! Indeed, with the crispy outside and soft inside, it tastes extremely delicious!

蔥油餅體驗的活動真的很有意思，有機會到台灣宜蘭時，不妨到「蔥仔寮體驗農場」體驗一下唷！

It was a fun experience! When you come to Yilan, don’t forget to stop by “Green Onion DIY Farm” to experience it yourself!

【蔥仔寮體驗農場】“Ｇreen Onion DIY Farm”

電話 TEL：0937-995104

地址：宜蘭縣三星鄉天福村東興路13號之2

Address:No.13-2, Dongxing Rd., Sanxing Township, Yilan County

【後記】Addendum

三星鄉有「三星青蔥文化館」，裡頭的前半部提供了三星蔥的相關資訊（但可惜都是中文），而後半部就是美食販售區，有許多蔥有關的製品，如蔥油、蔥醬、蔥麵、蔥蛋捲等等。最特別的是，這裡還有”蔥口味的冰淇淋”，相當的特別唷～

“Sanxing Green Onion Exhibition” is also located in town. It provides the related information of the Sanxing Green Onion (unfortunately the information is in Chinese), food court, the green onion made products, such as, green onion oil, paste, noodle, and egg rolls.. etc. It also has the green onion flavored ice cream.

「三星青蔥文化館」Sanxing Green Onion Exhibition

「蔥口味的冰淇淋」Green onion flavored ice cream. Read More

Dragon Fruit Seeding Experience

Dragon Fruit, also known as Pitaya or Huo Long Guo (火龍果) in Chinese, is one of the most popular summer fruits in Taiwan. It also grows in all the tropical countries worldwide. I fell in love with this fruit since it has a fresh smell, a sweet taste, and is very healthy as well. Do you know that Dragon Fruit actually belongs to the cactus family? I am a succulent and cactus lover, so I decided to search information online and experiment growing the seeds from a piece of Dragon Fruit I bought from the market.

Taking out the seeds from the fruit can be a time consuming process besides waiting for them to grow. I asked a friend of mine to be the model and took pictures of the whole process as follows. Hope you will find them interesting and grow a pot of them yourself too at home!

After a several months, it has become a lovely indoor plant as shown in Photo 23; however, this pot will not produce any fruit. In order for them to produce fruit, they need to be transplanted to an outdoor location and fertilized twice a year.

Here is my plant outdoor, waiting to grow and produce fruit!

Read More

Lugang (鹿港), the most charming small town

Next to Tainan and Mengjia, Lugang is the second greatest historical town in Taiwan with at least a 350 year history. It is located in Changhua County in central Taiwan. Unlike Tainan’s historical with modern mixes, Lugang has no high-rise buildings. It has only Quan and Zhang regional buildings with Baroque-styled architecture.

The three unique characteristics of Lugang in the past made this small town very famous. They were the “No Sky”, “No Ground” and “No Women” (不見天，不見地，不見女人). The 2 kilometer long Zhongshan Road which is currently the main street in town, used to be the “No Sky” Street filled with rectangular shaped Street House styled architecture. The sky was hardly seen since all the houses were connected. The streets were paved with red bricks that have been well preserved. Because of the red bricks, the ground can’t be seen, and it makes “No Ground”. Women could not be seen outside of their homes due to the conservative culture.

We came to Lugang from Taipei by train and bus, and spent 2 days to explore this small town. Lots of literature and cultural heritage can be found. We grabbed a map and planned our visit by dividing the town into South and North town. We did not cover everything on the map in these 2 days; however, I think we visited most of them in town.

South Town

Nine- Turn Lane (九曲巷)

I think that the most charming scenery in town is the hidden narrow and winding lane. Also known as Jinsheng Lane(金盛巷), the 1-kilometer long Nine- Turn Lane was built with many turns and curves to prevent the entry of bandits and avoid damages from the "September winds. Walking inside the lane, one turn after another, I really felt like walking in a maze with the curve lines. I could not help myself stop shooting photos of the beautiful red brick walls and floors. This unique scene has also attracted lots of films makers. Therefore, the Nine-Turn Lane is also known as the “Movie Lane”.

A hand-pumped well is found in one of the intersections. An elderly lady told us that they are still using this water as their household water source.

Shihyin Hall (十宜樓)

Shihyin Hall is built across from the Jinsheng Lane and was Chen’s mansion. “Shiyi” means ten amusements. This hall used to be the gathering place for poets and calligraphers to paly instruments, chess, drinking, writing and painting.

Wine Bottle Wall(甕牆)

Another unique wall decorations are the giant wine pottery bottles. Inside a small lane from Zhongshan Road, there is a wall covered with at least 120 pottery bottles. This is the largest Wine Bottle Wall in Lugang. We did not make it to there; however, we found this small wall by Lugang Elementary School.

In the early years of Lugang, because of business reasons, ships sailed frequently in between Mainland China and Taiwan. The giant wine bottles were placed inside the ship to stabilize the ship during the rough sailing. Residents used wine bottles to decorate the walls to reflect how wealthy they were. The wine bottle was also preserved when women were pregnant.

Mo-Ru Alley (Breast Touching Alley) (摸乳巷)

When visiting Lugang , the Mo-Ru Alley for sure can’t be missed. This is the most famous and interesting spot in town. With less than 70 cm at the narrowest point, it is the narrowest alley in Taiwan, meaning that it does not allow 2 people walk side by side in the ally. If a man and a woman walk through this ally, the woman’s breast may be touched accidentally. This was how the amusing name came from.

I barely made it through the narrowest place! It is interesting to know that this alley used to be the fire lane in the past.

Longshan Temple(龍山寺)

It’s hard to believe that there are more than 220 temples in this small town. Strolling through the town, I saw temple after temple. We came to Longshan temple for an evening Nanguan Music performance; it was cancelled unfortunately. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a peaceful evening in the temple.

Longshan Temple was established during late Ming Dynasty about 300 years old now. It is dedicated to Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. It is the National Monument in Taiwan. It does not have brilliant exterior colors as the Longshan Temple in Taipei; however, I prefer the look the way it is in Lugang.

Are they looking for the Nanguan Music performance as well?

The colorful painting and magnificent carvings can bee found on the octagonal ceiling of the opera stage. The octagonal shape of the ceiling calls “Ba Gua” in Chinese, which implies the significance of the peace and wards off evil.

North Town

Ai Gate(隘門)

Near Zhongshan Road, the only remaining gate since Ching Dynasty can be found in a small ally. This gate was built in 1830 to defend against thieves and pirates. Based on history books, there were70 gates in Lugang, however, Ai Gate is the only one remaining now and designed as a county historical site.

Ban Bian Well (Half-Side Well) (半邊井)

Not too far from Ai Gate, the Half-Side Well is located on Yaolin Street. It looks like a half sided well, but it is actually a complete well.

It belonged to the Wang resident. In the past, only the rich family could afford a well. Wang’s family built a well divided by a wall. The outside half is for the public use and inside is for the family. That was a great way to maintain the neighborhood harmony.

Old Market Street (鹿港老街)

On the Putou Street and Yaolin Street, lots of historical houses have been preserved and being used as the stores and shopping area for the visitors. Yi Gu Zhai Tea House is one of the awesome places that we visited for resting and enjoying the local culture.

So many places and heritage culture can be explored in Lugang. We ran out of time during this visit unfortunately. Lugang Folk Arts Museum (民俗文物館) is another unique architecture building that carries lots of stories behind. This museum will be on my priority list for my next visit to Lugang. Read More