Easy Tortilla Jian Bing #

July 19, 2014, Beijing, China: This morning we had jian bing, the Chinese-style egg-filled crepes found in every major metropolitan city in the country, for breakfast. It's a dish so damn delicious that I can't fathom why it hasn't become a staple food in Chinatowns all across the U.S. It's essentially a batter-based crepe cooked with an egg smeared into one side, along with cilantro and scallions, that then gets brushed with a few sauces (hoisin or a similar bean sauce and a ground chile oil), then folded up, often with a baocui inside. The baocui is a puffed, crisply fried cracker that's a specialty of Beijing. Essentially what you've got is a bit of crisp carb wrapped in soft carb action. We ordered ours with a piece of battered fried chicken wrapped up in there with the cracker. As the whole thing steams, the inner cracker softens a bit, but you still get an awesome mix of texture and flavors.

In the intervening years since I wrote that travel diary entry, I've seen jian bing vendors start popping up in the United States on both coasts, so at least a few people had the same idea. At home, I've taken to making a quick, cheaty version of the dish using store-bought flour tortillas.

To make it, I start by panfrying a flour tortilla in the bottom of my wok. Meanwhile, I whisk together an egg with some cilantro and scallions, which I then pour over the tortilla and spread around with the edge of a spatula until the tortilla is coated in a layer of the egg mix-ture. As soon as the first side is crisp, I flip the whole thing over, egg side down, to fry. Finally, I flip it again and brush the egg with some hoisin sauce and chile oil before folding it up into a neat triangle. More adventurous cocks can try folding the tortilla with the egg layer on the outside for a more authentic take. It's not quite as glorious as the crepe-based original, but it's got texture, flavor, and is a fantastic (and fantastically quick) breakfast or snack in its own right.

Ingredients #

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) peanut, rice bran, or other neutral oil
• One 8- to 10-inch flour tortilla
• 1 large egg
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• Small handful of fresh cilantro leaves and fine stems, roughly chopped
• Small sprinkle white or black sesame seeds
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons (110 ml) hoisin sauce
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) homemade (page 310) or store-bought chile oil

Instructions #

1. Heat the oil in a flat-bottomed wok or a carbon steel, cast iron, or nonstick skillet over medium heat untill shimmering. Add the tortilla.
2. As the tortilla cooks, whisk together the egg, scallion, cilantro, sesame seeds, and salt in a small bowl. Pour the mixture on top of the tortilla and spread it around in a thin, even layer using a rubber spatula or the end of a metal spatula. Continue cooking until the tortilla is golden brown and crisp on the first side, about 3 minutes total. Flip the whole thing over so that the egg is facing down. Reduce the heat to medium-hot and cook until the egg is set, about 30 seconds. Flip the tortilla again so the egg side is up.
3. Brush the egg with hoisin sauce and chile oil. Fold the whole thing in half to form a semicircle, then in half again, forming a quarter-circle. Slide it out of the pan, wrap with a napkin, and eat it with your hands.