Jianbing
China's greatest breakfast: a thin savoury crepe with an egg cracked straight onto it, sweet bean sauce, herbs and a sheet of something crunchy folded inside. Street food that fits in one hand and beats any pastry.
- Total time
- 12 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Easy
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 10 in the basket.
How you make it
Whisk the two flours with the water and a pinch of salt into a thin, lump-free batter roughly the consistency of single cream.
Wipe a 26cm non-stick pan with oil and set it over medium heat, then pour in half the batter and swirl or spread it into a thin even round, cooking 90 seconds until the surface looks dry.
Crack an egg onto the crepe, break the yolk and spread it across the surface with the back of a spoon, then cook 2 minutes until the egg is fully set with no runny white anywhere.
Flip the crepe, brush the cooked side with sweet bean sauce and chilli oil, and scatter over the spring onions and coriander.
Lay the crackers or lettuce down the middle, fold the sides in over them and fold again into a rectangle, then slide it out and repeat with the second one.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Jianbing is sitting in the Chinese kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the Chinese kitchen
Wok breath you can taste from the doorway.