I must have been born under a lucky star, at least as far as friendship is concerned. I have friends everywhere, and where I don’t, I have friends who are happy to share their friends with me. This is what happened when I went to China. I had introductions to the most delightful people who have now become friends. Not only that, but Mei, my wonderful friend who founded Wild China, offered me a great three-day foodie tour of Beijing which made all the difference to our stay there. We also struck it lucky with our guide Steven, who couldn’t have been more charming. He took us everywhere from the serene Temple of Heaven to the spectacular Forbidden City to the fabulous Great Wall, and in between we ate at delicious restaurants, visited the most amazing markets and learned how to stir-fry and make dumplings and noodles. And I discovered a new favourite street food, jianbing which is the Chinese equivalent of both the French crepe and the Emirati regag, depending on who is making them.
At the Rundeli or Sihuan market where I finally managed to spend time with the marvellous Michelle Garnaut, tasting everything under the watchful eye of the lovely Adlyn who owns Hias Gourmet, the jianbing maker in the clip above made the pancakes almost like the Emirati regag while the lady in the clip below made hers like French crepes.
The principle is simple. Make the pancake, then break an egg and spread it all over — some let the egg cook on top, others flip the pancake to let it cook against the hot plate. After that, brush the pancake with hoisin (some vendors use soybean paste) and chili sauce before sprinkling with spring onions and coriander. The final step is laying a crisp fritter in the middle then wrapping the pancake around it before cutting and putting it in a plastic bag for you to take away and eat as you walk around, enjoying the contrast between the crisp fritter and the softer pancake wrapped around it.
Unfortunately, I missed the key fritter moment in the first clip but you can see it in the second one. The jianbing at the Rundeli market stall was by far better, more crisp and fresher because of the added lettuce. The lady’s pancake on the other hand was rather soggy, and her hygiene was very questionable. Still, both were good and I wish some enterprising English/Chinese could start a jianbing stall in London, preferably very near where I live. And while I am at it, I also wish I could have a butcher who sold pigs heads as clean as those I found in the amazing meat section of the open air market. If this were to happen, I would forever thank my lucky star.
