Green Onion Bulgogi Quesadillas

I never imagined I’d live in San Diego, I actually was pretty upset about leaving Northern California to come down to a place where beaches are more sacred than land. But what no one told me 7 years ago, was that I was going to find a whole new appreciation for Mexican food. But there are only so many California burritos and carne asada bowls one can eat before you try to mix it up a bit.

Enter, the green onion pancake bulgogi quesadilla. Now before some of you say, “Green onion pancake? That sounds like the worst breakfast ever!” Know that a green onion pancake is nothing like a pancake at all. This is not your regular fluffy buttermilk sunday morning delight. No – the green onion pancake is similar to a tortilla, but imagine it’s flakey, really flakey, and has savory green onion bits inside. It’s the Korean tortilla, so it only makes sense to frankenstein it into my mexi-korean recipe for this week. Now all we need is the carne asada of the Korean world – bulgogi.

1. Prepare your dough by putting 4 cups of flour into a standing mixer bowl. Microwave 2 cups of water until boiling hot. With the mixer on the slowest setting, pour in the boiling water until the dough is completely formed. You should be able to stick all of the dough together into one ball without any dough crumbs, but it shouldn’t be too sticky that it doesn’t come off your hands.
2. Split the dough in half, kneed the dough until you can form it into 2 uniformed balls then place the balls back into the mixer bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 20-30 minutes.
3. While the dough is setting, prepare your bulgogi by cooking it on the stove. Pour the excess juices from the frying pan to all for the meet to fully cool. Leaving the juices in the pan doesn’t allow for the meat to crisp up, and you’ll end up with grey-ish brown meat that looks completely uniform.
4. Cut up your green onion into thin slices and set aside. Note: Green onion is one of my favorite plants because of how quickly it replenishes. Cut your green onion until you’re almost at the white portion, and place the remaining roots in a glass of water. I did it while making this recipe and by the time I was eating, the onions had already started to grow back!
5. When your dough has finished setting, take one one ball and cut it in half. Sprinkle some flour on a dry clean surface and roll the dough out until it’s thin (but not paper thin, you don’t want your dough to tear)
6. Using a pastry brush spread a thin layer of sesame oil on one side of the rolled dough and sprinkle on a layer of green onion. Roll up your pancake up like a jelly roll then flatten it with your hands.
7. Brush on a thin layer of sesame oil on the top and roll it up one more time. It should resemble rolling up a sleeping bag.
8. Now patting on a little bit of flour on both ends where the sesame oil is making contact with your hands, ball the dough up in your hands and then flatten one more time to create the green onion pancake.
9. Heat a skillet up on medium, coat with oil and cook each of your pancakes. When almost completely cooked, lay down the cheeses on half of the pancake, layering the cooked bulgogi on top. Fold over the other half of the pancake, flip and serve. If you feel like your cheese isn’t melting fast enough, or your pancake is cooking quicker than your cheese is melting, pour a spoon full of water into the pan and quickly cover the top with foil or a lid. This will allow steam to form and melt the cheese without having to add more cook time and potentially burning your dish. 
10. Cut into 4’s, serve NOM!