The traditional Chinese Pancake (also called Jianbing, in some places of China, we call it Jian Bing Guo Zi) is one of the main foods eaten in northern China and, according to legend, it originated in China Tai’an.
There is a lot of diversity with Chinese Crepes found in the street food of China. Here are some examples.
The Chinese Pancake we’re making today takes only 15 minutes and tastes amazing. If you’re short on time in the mornings, this is a great breakfast option.
In China, pancakes (‘bing’ in Chinese), are made with batter just as they are everywhere else in the world, and no kneading of dough is required. The flavors vary from savory to sweet with no end to the kinds of fillings you can add.
The traditional approach in the Shandong Province of China is to use ordinary wheat flour, with the addition of water and green onions to make a batter, and then fry it into a pancake.
In fact, there are many things you can add to vary its flavor. The ingredients required for today’s recipe are as follows:
Ingredients:
- 100 g self-raising flour. This has baking powder in it which will release carbon dioxide when water is added to it, forming bubbles, and making the pancake soft and fluffy on the inside.
- 2 eggs. Eggs improve the taste of the pancake and make it lighter.
- 100 ml water. My perfect formula is 100 g of self-raising flour, 100 ml of water and two eggs, after running a lot of tests in order to make the perfect pancake. Everyoneās taste varies, though.
- 200 g white radish. You can also use the same amount of carrots or zucchini instead if you want more flavor.
- 2 green onions
- 1 1/2 teaspoons each of salt and white pepper
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
How to make Jianbing.
1. Firstly, peel the white radish and cut into thin strips. A mandoline does a good job, however, the taste will not be retained as well as with hand chopping.
2. Add the chopped green onions, half a teaspoon each of salt and white pepper, the sesame oil, and stir well. Set it aside.
Note that for white radish, there should be as little salt as possible, otherwise a lot of water will run out, just like zucchini.
Carrot, on the other hand, has a hard texture, so you can add more salt if you use it.
3. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and add the water and flour.
Take a whisk and mix evenly and thoroughly. Chopsticks produce a smoother effect, but you can save some time using a whisk.
- Add the mixture of the green onion, radish, and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to the batter. You can add more salt here because the batter prevents water from coming out of the radish. The mixture is now ready.
- Start heating a 20 cm flat-bottomed nonstick pan on the stove and add 15g of peanut oil after preheating for 1 minute. Of course, you can use a slightly larger pan, but I find that using a pan this size reduces the risk of breaking the pancakes.
6. With a spoon, scoop out enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan, without making it too thick. As the pancake heats up, the color will change, and small holes will start to appear on the surface.
Use a spatula to turn the pancake over and then fry for about a minute.
The other side of the fried pancake should look like this.
Note: This fried radish pancake is best to eat hot. If it sits for too long, the outside will start to go soft.
Ingredients
- 100 ml water
- 200 g white radish
- 2 green onions
- 1 1/2 teaspoons each of salt and white pepper
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 100 g self-raising flour.
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Peel the white radish and cut into thin strips. A mandoline does a good job, however, the taste will not be retained as well as with hand chopping.
- Add the chopped green onions, half a teaspoon each of salt and white pepper, the sesame oil, and stir well. Set it aside.
- Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and add the water and flour.
- Take a whisk and mix evenly and thoroughly. Chopsticks produce a smoother effect, but you can save some time using a whisk.
- Add the mixture of the green onion, radish, and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to the batter.
- Start heating a 20 cm flat-bottomed nonstick pan on the stove and add 15g of peanut oil after preheating for 1 minute.
- With a spoon, scoop out enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan, without making it too thick.
- Use a spatula to turn the pancake over and then fry for about a minute.
Too much white pepper otherwise it’s good š