Savory Fried Pancake

These who love eating Chinese, Japanese and Korean food will find this familiar. The modest but delicious fried pancake have different names and may be filled with different ingredients but it basically consist of julienned vegetables, sometimes with a little meat, and batter as a binder.

We call the fried pancake "jian bing" in Mandarin. The jian bing is a good way to use up all the bits and pieces of vegetable and meat in your refrigerator, which is probably how this dish came about. There is really no fixed recipe, you just use whatever vegetable you like, usually we use vegetables that adds a crunch like mung bean sprouts, cabbages or onions. Julienned the vegetables and add enough flour and water to bind the vegetables together. The batter consistency should be a little more runny than the normal pancake batter. Season the batter with salt and pepper and mix well. Then, just heat up some oil in a pan and drop tablespoon full of the batter into the pan and fry the pancakes on both sides until golden brown.   

My family version with a South East Asian twist uses onion, red chilli, scallion, ground garlic, ground candle nut and shrimp. I think my Mom started making them as a way to get my brother to eat his vegetables and seafood. It remains the only way he will eat his shrimp unfortunately . We like crispy pancakes so we fry them a little longer and serve with a dipping sauce made from rice vinegar, sugar, fish sauce and chilli. 

Comments

[Reid]

Hi ST,

Ooooh. This looks so good! I love to eat scallion pancakes. Now you've given me something else to try! =)

[weng]

its almost the same like the okoy here in the PI, my mom used to cook that now I can try cook okoy in a differnt way, thanks for the idea.

[Jonny Angel]

Wow, we posted the same food at the same time!

[MrsT]

Ahhh.. i have to try this sometime.... but can give recipe..??? like how much flour and stuff.. :) I quite a kitchen blur queen.. :)

[spots]

I hv made the Korean version of this before, using a korean pancake mix. you jus add water and that's it! it turns out perfect. Like you, I love putting in scallions & also... seafood, like crabsticks, prawns, & even, oysters. Yum!

[peter altuch]

I am using a korean pancake mix tonight and adding shrimp, bay scallops, green beans, napa cabage, carrots, scallions, and onions. I ground up everyting including the shrimp and scallops which will permeate the entire pancake. I found this site because I wanted to get a recipe for a sauce to serve it with. think I will the one you recommend. Happy eating!