Chinese Shout Out: Recipe for Savoury Chinese Crepes (Jian Bing)

In May 2012 I had the great opportunity to go to Shanghai for 6 weeks.  My favourite thing, besides the wonderful friends I made (Yes, I see I have views from Laos and Germany), and the side trips I took, was a street food that I called Chinese crepes.  I was introduced to this delicacy by my fantastic sister, who scoured the streets of Shanghai while I went to work and told me of her finds.  A week after she went home, feeling lonely, I set out in search of the Jian Bing (ya, that's right, I speak Chinese).  Tucked in a back alley, on the way to the Jade Buddha, I found it.  An ancient little Chinese man with assorted condiments set up beside a large (not necessarily sanitary) crepe stone smiled and looked at me questioningly.  I smiled back, pointed and held up 1 finger.  I watched as he spread a thin batter around the stone and broke an egg and spread it into the batter.  Delighted, I saw what appeared to be cilantro, garlic and green onions enter the mix.  He spread a brown sauce (which I later identified as Hoisin sauce) over the crepe and pointed to the chilly sauce.  I nodded and smiled again and held up my fingers to indicate I wanted only a little.  He finished off his creation with a crispy cracker/fritter thing, folding the crepe around it, cutting it in half and handing it to me in a plastic bag.  I gave him the equivalent of 50 cents (the currency, not the rapper) and waited for it to cool.  I did not wait quite long enough, and despite the 2nd degree burns in my mouth, was treated to the happiest feeling my belly had ever experienced.  The combination of sweet and spicy, soft and crunchy was magical.  I was hooked.

It became my regular chore finding ways to get my fix.  I dragged others into my addiction.  My Canadian co-worker and I found a more sanitary location to get them (in an actual storefront!) near our office building.  Sadly, the next day, we moved offices :( I badgered the concierge to tell me of a nearby location to our hotel (after failing to get sufficient directions on a trip adviser forum).  He stared blankly for a while, wondering why this giant blond woman was looking for street food but eventually, reluctantly, pointed me in the proper direction.  The line was long and I heard many mutters of "lowai" and I think the merchant and a police officer had a good laugh at my expense.  I stood and smiled and waited my turn and was sufficiently rewarded for my troubles. 
It got so bad, at one small market I was refused service.  I had already had one that day at a different location and I think that word of the blond lowai was spreading through the city.  I smiled, pointed and was greeted by a scowl and a shaking head.  Thinking he had misunderstood my sign language, I tried again with the same results.  I left, dejected, and found another vendor several blocks away.  Life was good again.
Since I returned, I have thought often about trying to make my own.  It's hard to justify, when in China it costs 50 cents and to make it at home, it costs close to 3$.  But then I saw that Annemarie and Jessica had checked out the blog (Thanks!) and I missed them and my Jian Bings. 
I found a recipe on food.com and attempted to make my own You Tiaos (the crunchy cracker thing) but was unable to get the same crispy texture.  Apparently you can get them at any Asian market and certain grocery stores, so in the future, I will try that.  The recipe was too thick but after several attempts (and a big mess), I yielded a reasonable facsimile.  I served it to DH and before I could start to make mine, it was gone.  Unfortunately, after the initial fails, there was not enough batter to make him another one.  Overall, I would love someone to start setting up these food stands around home, but until that time, I think I can hold of the feelings of withdrawal.  After working out the bugs, this is a very easy recipe with great flavours.  Enjoy!

Savoury Chinese Crepes (Jian Bing)

1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
2 tbs oil
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup water
4 green onions, chopped small
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1-2 tbs chili paste (to taste)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
4 eggs
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
2 crispy bread crackers (You Tiao)

Directions

1. Mix flour, 1 tbs oil, milk and water until smooth.  Batter should be thin, add more liquid if necessary.
2. Coat large, flat bottomed skillet with oil to prevent sticking.  Heat over medium high heat.
3. Mix together cilantro, green onion, garlic and chili paste.  Set aside.
4. Pour 1/4 crepe mix into hot skillet and spread thin over entire pan with a flat edged spatula.  Cook approximately 30 seconds and flip.
5. Pour 1 scrambled egg (not cooked) over crepe and smooth over entire surface.
6. Spread a 1.5 tbs of cilantro mixture over crepe/egg surface.
7. Flip crepe and cook for 30 seconds.
8. Transfer crepe to plate (egg/cilantro side up) and spread 2 tbs of hoisin sauce.  Place You Tiao in the middle and fold crepe around it.  Cut and fold in half and serve wrapped in parchment paper.
9. Eat with your hands.

My First Review! Recipe: Apple Charlottes

For the past 5 years, I have been using the website www.food.com to find and post recipes.  It's a great site for a picky eater, with a recipe sifter option that allows you to find things like "coleslaw without mayo" and "Club Sandwhich without bacon."  While I am guilty of finding a recipe and then changing everything about it but cook time and temp, I've found many on this site that I haven't changed a thing.

Unfortunately, I have been a little lax about posting my own recipes. At this time, I've only posted 4.  Recently, food.com hosted an Adopt a Chef event, where chefs with multiple recipes select a chef with few recipes and cook one of their recipes for a review.  I was selected as one of the new chefs and had my grandma's recipe for Apple Charlottes reviewed this week.  This is what the other chef had to say:

Yum, these tarts were delicious kmact. We enjoyed these little gems so much. They were awesome, beautiful cookie crust, crisp and tender all at the same time, filled with a lovely apple filling. I used homemade spiced applesauce, it worked perfectly in this dish. They were quick and so easy to make. We will be enjoying this treat often. Thanks so much for sharing.

 I got this review on a day where work was less than enjoyable and I returned home to find that I had given DH the wrong instructions for preparing a frozen dinner I had made.  I was feeling pretty low when I read this.  It's incredible how some random stranger's opinion about something I didn't even create improved my day.  It didn't even bother me that her pictures of the ones she made looked soooo much better than my own.

Getting the review on this particular recipe meant a lot.  When I was very young, my Grandma Mac would make these for special events.  Such special events that birthdays and holidays did not qualify, despite my continued requests.  When I finally convinced her to give me the recipe, I understood why.  Lots of swearing and lots of flour EVERYWHERE resulted in a dozen of these fantastic little tarts and a bit of a headache.  Practice makes perfect, so I hope after many years of graduations, moon walks and nobel prize wins, my tarts will look as good as the ones the kind reviewer made.
Try the recipe yourself and let me know what you think! 

 

 

• 1/2 cup Crisco shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup applesauce
• icing sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Separately, cream crisco and sugar; sift together dry ingredients; beat egg, milk and vanilla.
3. Mix all 3 parts together well.
4. Flour cutting board and roll dough out thinly.
5. Cut out small circles for the tops and large circles for the base.
6. Place large circles in muffin tins.
7. Add 1 tbs of apple sauce to each tin.
8. Add tops, seal with fingers or fork.
9. Score the tops with knife or fork.
10. Bake for 12 minutes.
11. While cooling, sprinkle with icing sugar.





Welcome to the Blog

As a "foodie," I come from rather humble beginnings.  Growing up, my dad's spaghetti sauce was the highlight of a month of meals (still is), with the rest of the month consisting of a LOT of chicken, potatoes and frozen peas, with the occasional frozen shepherd's pie thrown in for variety.  Fine dining was going to my grandma's for noodle casserole (ground beef, cheese, canned tomatoes and macaroni) and apple crisp (still AMAZING).  This of course was better than our other grandma (Mimi's)'s speciality: instant mashed potatoes topped with paprika and Monterrey jack cheese. 
I began cooking for the family shortly before high school, with exotic specialities like canned mushroom soup Alfredo and pork chops with Mrs. Dash.  My big break came when I got a job cooking at the restaurant down the street and learnt such culinary secrets as microwave scrambled eggs and putting chicken stock in mashed potatoes.  In university I became an accidental vegetarian, discovering the joy that is minute rice.
I have faced many challenges in my quest to become a foodie.  The main one would be the fact that I hate almost EVERYTHING.  I have been described on more than one occasion as "the pickiest person I know."  I like to think that I am more like Meg Ryan in "Harry Met Sally" and I have a particular idea on how things should be prepared.  My food "issues" are as follows:

• Bacon - won't eat it, won't touch it, don't like it if something even has bacon in the name.  If you are looking for blogs about bacon, head down the net to the Bacon, Bacon, Bacon Blog because you will not find any here. 
• Green Peppers - The most invasive food EVER.  If I want to eat green peppers (which I don't) I will, I don't need my entire pizza to to taste like green peppers.
• Lemon - I don't want lemon in water.  I don't want lemonade.  Lemon squares, no thank you.
• Onions - ok, this one is all texture.  I can't stand the crunch of raw onions.  I am much better than I used to be.  I actually like the taste and if they are cooked beyond recognition, I am good. 
• Burnt - you may call it "char grilled," I call it burnt.  Incidentally, I could have breakfast with 15 people and my toast (which I love) will be the only burnt toast at the table. 

There are many more but this is a blog, not a novel. 

Now that you know a little (or too much) about me, here's the direction I intend to go with this blog.  I love to cook and try out new recipes and have friends over for dinner.  I'll share my successful recipes and maybe a fail or two (if they are funny).  I also love to go out to different restaurants and food events in Windsor and other places I travel.  I started a Dinner Club over a year ago and I'll share some of our experiences. 

Thanks for checking me out.  Let me know if you have any suggestions for recipes or restaurants, criticisms or you just want to curse me out because I don't like bacon.  All comments welcome.