In the northern part of China, this spring onion pancakes would be the vegetarians' way of celebrating the arrival of Spring, without a Peking Duck.
It is really easy to make the onion pancakes and there is no standard recipe for its making.
This pancake is savoury and is a good way for families to gather together to celebrate without a big budget.
Another kind of Spring Pancake the Foochows make is the Spring Roll. Yes, exactly what the name suggest.
It is a thin pancake with lots of fillings which mayh be minced pork, onions, chives, long beans, prawns and crushed peanuts. Spring rolls have become a common snack or street food people eat every day, not just in Spring.
In the olden days, when our elders longed to go back to China, preparing food like onion pancakes or spring rolls helped make them feel better. They would not be so homesick for Tong Sang. In fact when they saw their offsrpings and even grand children enjoying traditional food from China, they felt comforted.
I still remember my grandmother checking her old style Chinese calendar which will tell her when Spring would arrive. And she would mumble to herself, Spring would arrive soon, perhaps we have to make spring rolls for a change.
And true enough at the corner of High Street in Sibu, the Hokkien man would be making the spring roll skin...my mum would buy some and off we would go home to cook the fillings and enjoy our spring roll.
I would remind my grandmother that in Sarawak, every day seemed to be like spring , or summer, or autumn...but we never had winter. And she would nod her head and sigh. She would then whisper, when a season came and went, we would feel that time had passed by and we would be more prepared for the future. But here in Sarawak, every day seemed to be the same,so we would not be that well prepared.
In China, today, welcoming Spring need not be elaborate in most farming areas.
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