When thinking about Chinese breakfast, many people would think of Dim Sum, which is a typical Cantonese style breakfast. In fact just like different areas in China have different cuisines, different cities also have their signature breakfasts. We have Hot and Dry Noodles from Wuhan, baozi stuffed with juicy pork from Shanghai, hand pulled noodle soup from Lanzhou…

If you asked me about the signature breakfast of my home town, Tianjin; Jian Bing would be the answer.

Jian Bing is a kind of pancake similar to a crepe with thin layer of mung bean flour paste, egg, golden crispy flour sheet roll up together, soft outside and crispy inside, all of these had made Jian Bing the most popular breakfast not only in Tianjin, but also cities near it such as Beijing. It’s also a perfect night time snack after drinking .

Jian Bing

Ingredients: (makes 2)

1/2 cup of flour (plain)
2 eggs wonton skin
1/2 spring onion
2g coriander
sweet bean paste
chilli sauce with garlic
cooking oil
cold water

Method:

1. Mix the flour with a pinch of salt and 2/3 cup of cold water, keep mixing until it becomes flour paste. Chop the spring onion and coriander.
2. Heat up a pot with oil over strong heat. When the oil is very hot, put 1 wonton skin in to deep-fry. When both sides turn golden brown, take out and place on kitchen tissue to drain the oil. Repeat to make at least 4 sheets.
3. Heat up a frying pan over strong heat. When the pan is hot, turn to low-mid heat. Brush a layer of cooing oil on the bottom of the pan.
4. Place a ladle of flour paste in the centre of the pan, use a spatula to lightly spread the paste until it evenly covers the pan. Cook for about 20 seconds. Crack an egg over the crepe, break the egg gently with the spatula and spread it to cover the crepe evenly.
5. Sprinkle half of the spring onion chop and coriander chop on the top of the crepe. Cook for about 15 seconds, flip over and cook for another 10 seconds.
6. Put 1 tsp of sweet bean paste and 1 tsp of chilli sauce with garlic on the surface of the crepe, brush and spread the sauce to cover the whole surface evenly.
7. Break 2 sheets of fried wonton skin and place them in the middle of the crepe. Fold the top half over the wonton skin, then fold over the bottom part. Lightly break the middle with spatula, fold the right part over the left part.
8. Repeat method 3-7 to make another one.

Tips:

1. Originally Jian Bing is made with mung bean flour, but I could’t find it here in Ireland, so I used plain flour instead.
2. If you break the crepe a little bit while spreading, don’t worry, the egg that you are going to use is going to fix it.
3. I used 2 deep-fried wonton skin for each Jian Bing, you can use more as long as the crepe can still be folded together.