May 9, 2020

Jian Bing (煎饼)

Jianbing (煎饼) is a crepe-like chinese pancake that’s loaded with egg, hoisin, chili oil, and your choice of fixins. They were one of my favorite breakfast eats when I interned in Shanghai! Check out my IG stories highlights for more how-tos.

Ingredients:

For the batter:

  • 1/2 cup AP flour
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil
  • 2 tbsp corn starch
  • 1/4 tsp salt

For the fixins:

  • Eggs (use 1/2 or 1 egg per crepe, depending on how large your skillet is and how thick/thin you want the crepe. I used one egg per crepe with a 14 inch skillet)
  • Hoisin
  • Chili oil or sriracha (I use lao gan ma chili crisp)
  • To top: any combination of cilantro, scallions, sesame seeds
  • Filling: Jianbings are usually filled with at least one crunch element (youtiao, fried wonton skin, romaine lettuce — personally romaine lettuce is my favorite since it doesn’t get soggy as easily and also less heavy). Other ideas include preserved mustard stems (zha cai), pork floss, ham, roasted meats

Directions:

  • Whisk batter together until smooth
  • Heat up a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and grease the pan with a little oil. I like to pour a little bit and spread it out with a paper towel. 
  • Ladle a heaping spoon of batter into the pan and spread the batter out by drawing circles with the bottom of your ladle. Use light pressure. Add more batter as needed until the bottom of the pan is covered. It doesn’t need to be perfect because your egg will make up for it 
  • Crack an egg (or half an egg) on top of the batter and scramble it across the crepe with the bottom of a spatula.
  • Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds, cilantro, and scallions
  • Once egg is mostly set, flip the crepe over and turn heat to low 
  • Spoon hoisin and chili crisp on top of the crepe – I like to use a brush to spread it out across the center of the crepe. I don’t bother covering the edges because I know I’ll fold them in later. If you want to roll your crepe instead, brush sauce accordingly
  • Add your fixins
  • Turn off heat and fold or roll your crepe as desired