My Chouchoux: Matzo Brei Scallion Pancakes with Sriracha Sour Cream 猶太馬佐蔥油煎餅與拉差酸奶油

Having married a Jewish man, I had to learn a thing or two about Jewish cooking. It was all very new to me, from the meaning of kosher, the religious rules, the big Jewish holidays, the challah bread, the blintzes, to the non-rising bread, matzo, etc. The funny thing is my hubby isn't actually kosher, and he isn't the biggest fan of traditional Jewish cooking either. It was I, on the other hand, who took a liking to a lot of the traditional Jewish food, including gefilte fish - which my hubby referred to as one of the most disgusting Jewish foods (>_<), and that was what got me into learning about Jewish cooking in the first place!

Matzo brei is one of the recipes I learned earlier on in our marriage. As Ruth Reichl described, it's basically a Jewish French toast. I remembered researching the recipe online and the basic ratio is one matzo to one egg. Here, I changed it a little bit. Most of the recipes I saw were pretty plain, and since my hubby was open to non-traditional Jewish food, I thought I'd play around with the basic recipe a little bit and incorporate my Asian roots in it! One of his favourite Chinese breakfast items was scallion pancakes, and that's how I came up with the idea of adding the scallions. It turned out to be a big success, and he really loved the flavour! From then on, I have repeated this recipe regularly, and my hubby says that it's the best matzo brei he's ever had! For a Taiwanese to get this kind of compliment from a Jew, I think I can pat myself on the back a little。(⌒∇⌒。) I know this is not traditional and it may be even be banned by the Jewish community（￣～￣;）, but it's sooooo delicious that you must give it a try (whether you're a Jew or not!)!!

Matzo Brei Scallion Pancakes with Sriracha Sour Cream (makes 2)

3 matzos (8-inch squares)

A: 2 large organic eggs, beaten
    4 scallions, chopped
    sea salt

grapeseed oil

B: 1/2 C    sour cream
    1/2-1 t Sriracha sauce *Feel free to adjust the amount accordingly
*T = tbsp, t = tsp, C = cup

1. Heat a small pot of water. In the meanwhile, break each matzo into about 6 pieces, and transfer them into a medium bowl.

2. When the water is hot, pour enough to cover the broken matzo pieces. Let it sit for 2 minutes, then drain and squeeze out the excess water.

3. Mix the matzo with ingredients A. In another bowl, mix together ingredients B.

4. In a small non-stick pan, heat about 1-2 t oil, and make sure you coat the entire surface. Pour in 1/2 of the matzo-egg mixture and press the side of the pancake gently to make sure no part is lose. Cook over medium-low heat until the bottom is browned, about 5-6 minutes. *If you like more flavour, you can use butter instead of oil.

5. Shake the pan a little bit to make sure the pancake is not sticking. If it is, gently use a spatula to losen the bottom. Place an inverted large plate over the pan, then carefully invert both the pan and the plate together, so the pancake would invert onto the plate. Pour more oil into the pan, and use a spatula to gently push the pancake back in. Brown the other side for another 5-6 minutes.

6. Slide the pancake onto a plate. Keep warm in the oven and repeat procedure 4 & 5 to make the second pancake. Serve with the Sriracha sour cream.

- Yvonne

與猶太人結婚相處多年，從猶太教、猶太節日、什麼是kosher (猶太潔食認證)、到猶太教的膳食法令、與他們的食品至少有一些認知，而自然的也學了幾道猶太人傳統料理。但好笑的是，其實老公雖然受傳統猶太教育，他自己本身對猶太教並沒有太大的信仰，他沒有特別吃kosher的食品、生活沒有遵守猶太教規、沒有定時慶祝猶太節日、也不太愛吃猶太料理，反倒是我對猶太料理比較有興趣，也因為如此，剛結婚的那幾年，我自已找食譜學了ㄧ些傳統的猶太料理。

這個星期是猶太人的逾越節，為了紀念猶太人最早在約西元前十三世紀遷出埃及，當時離開時沒有足夠的時間將麵包發酵，他們在這節日期間就吃馬佐 (matzo - ㄧ種無發酵的膨脹餅狀麵包)，而不吃發酵的麵包。這個馬佐煎餅食譜是我早期在學習猶太料理時所學的其中一個食譜。當時在網絡上查詢的基本食譜都大同小異，ㄧ片浸泡過的馬佐對ㄧ顆蛋，加ㄧ點鹽以奶油煎ㄧ下，它其實算是猶太人的法式土司 (French toast)。我在這個基本食譜內的馬佐與蛋的比例稍稍做了些改變，還有因為老公很喜愛吃我們的中式蔥油餅，我就在裡面加了蔥，使它煎起來更香，結果他不但覺得非常好吃，還告訴我這是他吃過最好吃又最有創意的馬佐煎餅！就這樣，往後我時常重複這樣的做法，雖然我不敢說這個食譜是傳統的馬佐煎餅，但它的質感口味真的很特別，吃起來外層脆，裡面軟嫩，若是能買到馬佐(Matzo)，我極力推薦大家嘗試！