Potato Pancake Rolls

[00:00] This is currently my favorite everyday  breakfast here in China. It’s something   called tudousi juanbing, and what it is is  basically stir fried potato slivers wrapped in   an egg-coated pancake. Now there’s obviously  a bunch of really nice breakfasts in China,  

[00:16] like, Changfen stans… I see you, I feel you, I  love it too but as a practical matter often one   changfen and an hour later I’m just as hungry.  But this thing, it’s really quite practical,  

[00:28] holds me well to lunch, and what can I say but  I’m a sucker for any kind of burrito-like-object.   These things you can find them all around China  these days… it’s a pancake style originally from  

[00:40] the North that seems to have gotten this form  around Jiangsu and Zhejiang. But also importantly,   unlike a lot of popular Chinese breakfasts  which often need some special techniques,   ingredients, or equipment… this one  is very doable in a home kitchen.  

[00:55] Maybe not exactly when you’re rushing  for work, but a weekend – definitely. So the first thing you’ll want to sort is your  filling, and you can make this in advance. All  

[01:08] it is is just a basic Chinese spicy potato sliver  made from a half kilo of potato. Slice a section   to give you a base to cut from, then cut that  into thin 3mm sheets, then lay those sheets  

[01:21] out like a deck of cards and cut into thin 3mm  slivers. Now assuming that you don’t have the   knife skills of a Wang Gang – who’s also got a  good video on potato slivers by the way – this  

[01:33] will likely take you a hot second, five maybe even  ten minutes if you’re new to the sport, it’s the   one kind of annoying part of the dish. Then just  rinse off a bit of the surface starch, strain, and  

[01:45] give those slivers a quick simmer for 60 seconds…  then strain again, and shock with cool water to   stop the cooking process. You’ll get best results  here if you’re really able to shake those slivers   really quite dry… if you’re working on a weaker  stove, I might even suggest a salad spinner.

[02:03] But either way, to fry those up, swirl two  tablespoons of oil into a hot wok and first   fry 2 cloves of minced garlic over a low flame.  Once those are fragrant, about 30 seconds,  

[02:16] add in two chilis cut into sections and then  up the flame to high. Once those are fragrant,   swirl in a quick half tablespoon of Shaoxing  wine, mix, and then add in your at least   relatively dry potato slivers. Then stir  fry that all for about a half a minute,  

[02:32] and swirl a good tablespoon of soy sauce over your  spatula and around the sides of the wok. Continue   to mix and fry over a high flame for about a  minute, then toss in your seasoning, heat off,   and optionally finish with a tablespoon of chili  oil if you happen to have some handy. And again,  

[02:49] you can definitely make this stuff in advance  – it fridges and reheats really quite well. Now, for the pancake itself, this belongs  to an overarching category of pancake from   the North of China called mianhubing. To  make it, you’ll first drizzle 220 grams of  

[03:05] water in with 200 grams of flour bit by bit,  until you get a rather soft dough like this.  Then patiently stir and fold the dough in one  direction only to develop the gluten until it’s   all smooth, which will also take a hot second  and a touch of strength… took Steph about ten  

[03:22] minutes and change to get to this point. You  should be looking at something smooth like   this with no clumps left, then drizzle another  220 grams water bit by bit, stirring and folding   in the same direction. Once incorporated, then  set that aside and let it rest for 30 minutes.

[03:41] Then, to make your pancakes, give that batter  a final mix, and toss a non-stick pan over your   stove – for reference ours is 28 centimeters. Then  over a medium flame, ladle in two small ladles or  

[03:55] about six tablespoons worth of batter and give it  a good swirl to spread evenly… but depending on   the size of your skillet you might need a little  more batter or a little less. But then just cover,  

[04:07] and observe the condensation forming on the  lid – once you’re looking at something that’s   getting clear and almost ready to drip, about 90  seconds, uncover and that jiggle off some of the   water so it doesn’t affect the pancake… then  cover again and give it another half minute. 

[04:24] Then at this point, spread on three tablespoons  worth of thoroughly whisked egg onto the pancake   a bit like how you might spread tomato sauce  on a pizza, and also optionally sprinkle over   a bit of scallion. Then cover, and cook  that egg. Once the egg no longer liquid,  

[04:42] flip the whole thing again, and cover  again. Then shut off the flame to let   the residual heat do its thing, about 30  seconds more, and slide that onto a plate. For our pan, we were able to get five pancakes  from this amount of batter. So then to wrap these,  

[04:59] on a work surface or a chopping board, grap  enough filling to cover about a ¼ of the pancake,   keep it to one side, and then roll it  up like a burrito tightly but gently.   Optionally slice open in the middle, wrap the  thing up around the bottom… and with that,  

[05:15] you’ve got yourself a toudousi juanbing…  but the fillings don’t stop there. Because if you’ve been around China at all,  probably one of the most popular breakfasts  

[05:27] around – especially among travelers and  exchange students – is the jianbing guozi.   It’s a pancake coated similarly in egg but then  it’s smothered in a savory sauce… given some   crunchy fillings, some junky fillings… it’s just  one of those dishes that’s easy to love. Now we’ve  

[05:44] covered true blue street food style Jianbing on  this channel before – we’ve even taught it with   Taco Bell fillings – but one of the issues with  Jianbing is that with its special equipment and  

[05:56] reliance on mungbean flour it’s kind of a pain  to make at home, especially outside of China. But   I’m gunna guess that most people out there aren’t  actually craving the maximally culturally accurate  

[06:09] Tianjin jianbing, and would probably be more than  happy with some kind of Jianbing-like object. So then now enter that batter we just made, but a  variant found in pockets around the Yangtze river  

[06:22] delta. There, they stuff this kind of Juanbing  with some suspiciously Jianbing-like fillings.   So if you’re in the market for Jianbing, but at  home, but easier… this might just be your answer. 

[06:37] So, here we’ve got some jianbing  usual suspects – Zhacai, lettuce,   a junky Chinese hotdog, and you could  also swap that for some cooked spam,   a youtiao cruller popped in the oven  til crisp… also swappable for your  

[06:50] crispy filling of choice… and, of course,  Tianjiang, that sweet savory Jianbing sauce. To make it, to a saucepan swirl in a teaspoon  of oil and add in a tablespoon each hoisin  

[07:03] sauce and Chinese sweet bean paste. Fry that  on medium-low until everything smells great,   or about a minute, then add in  a tablespoon sugar, ¼ tsp salt,   ¼ tsp MSG and give it all a good mix.  Then pour in a quarter cup of water,  

[07:18] and mix that all really really well until there’s  no more clumps remaining. Then thicken it with   a slurry of a ½ tsp potato starch mixed  with a teaspoon of water… and reserve.

[07:30] Now if you wanted to cosplay street vendor,  you would try wrap this all when cooking the   pancake… but if you don’t have the proper  equipment rolling can be a little hard to   manage… so our suggestion would be off the  flame just like before. So one pancake,  

[07:46] brush over a half tablespoon of that savory  sauce, and optionally a teaspoon of chili   crisp if you’re in the mood. Toss in some  roughly shredded lettuce, a quarter of a   youtiao, a half a hotdog, and sprinkle over a  bit of zha cai. Roll it up tightly but gently  

[08:03] just like before… and slice it in half if  you’ve also got YouTube thumbnails to make. So, this being a breakfast item, maybe sometimes  you don't want to make it at the spot and you  

[08:15] want to prep it in advance, which is totally  doable. So you can either prep the batter,   cover and keep it in the fridge overnight  and then do the pancake and the egg   the next morning with all your pre-prepped  fixings. Or what you can do is you can make  

[08:30] the pancake just itself and minus the egg. Keep  it in the fridge and then the next morning when   you are reheating your pancake, reheat it  in the pan and then crack your egg in at  

[08:42] that time and also just put your fixings in.  That will save you quite some time. So right,   check out the recipe in description box. A  big thank you for everyone that's supporting   us on Patreon and of course subscribe  for more Chinese cooking videos. [Music]