Mandarin Pancakes 薄餅 (bó bǐng) are savoury pancakes made from flour and water. They are for the purpose of wrapping and eating prepared vegetables and meats. Moo Shu Pork and Beijing Duck are probably the most well-known dishes that use Mandarin pancakes. It’s important to note that in China, Moo Shu Pork doesn't come with Mandarin pancakes. Check out my post and recipe for Moo Shu Pork to find out why I serve Moo Shu Pork with Mandarin pancakes.
These Mandarin Pancakes 薄餅 can go with anything. Sometimes, they are cut into pieces and stir-fried together with the Moo Shu Pork. You can even put rice in them!
There are many other kinds of Chinese savoury pancakes and crepes. There’s the lao bing 烙餅 (baked flapjacks), jian bing 煎餅 (egg, sweet soy paste and a crispy wafer wrapped in a crepe), cong you bing 蔥油餅 (flakey pancake with scallions) and the shou zhua bing 手抓餅 (flakey pan-fried pancake) just to name a few.
You may also want to check out my Original Spring Roll 春餅/潤餅 (chūn bǐng/rùn bǐng) post and recipe to see the predecessor of the deep-fried spring roll. It's actually a wrap that's over 3000 years old! It’s still around today in China. The filling varies from region to region. My recipe is an authentic Xiamen style which has pork belly, cabbage, carrots, snow peas and pressed tofu. You eat it with Mandarin Pancakes. It’s also worth mentioning that the Original Spring Roll 春餅/潤餅 is in many ways similar to the Moo Shu Pork. It’s so exciting when I see the evolution of dishes, especially when the first one dates back thousands of years!
I’ve seen these pancakes for sale at my local Asian supermarket, but for some of you, you may want to make it yourself to customize the size, control the ingredients or just for the sake of making it from scratch. It’s a very simple recipe that you can make ahead of time. Steam for 4 minutes before serving.
Mandarin Pancakes 薄餅
Ingredients
- 200 g All-purpose flour
- 75 ml Hot water (approx. 95˚C or 200˚F)
- 50 ml Room temperature water
- 2 tbsp Oil
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, measure 200 g of all-purpose flour
- Gradually, add 75 ml of hot water to the flour and stir until clumpy
- Add 50 ml of room temperature water to the mixture and stir until the mixture is cool enough to be kneaded by hand
- Knead until you can form a ball. Cover the mixing bowl and let it sit for 15 minutes
- Knead for approx. 5-10 minutes until dough is smooth
- Poke a hole through the centre
- Pull evenly to make a ring
- Make a cut on the ring
- Roll into a log-shape
- For 16 cm or 6 ½” pancakes, cut each piece into 25 g pieces
- Shape them into round pieces and press with the palm of your hand
- Pour 2 tbsp oil into a dish. Use a brush to brush the oil on the tops of each piece of dough
- Stack 2 together and press together with your fingers keeping them in-line with each other. Make sure that there is oil between the 2 piece of dough
- Use a rolling pin to roll them out into approx. 16cm or 6 ½” diameter pancakes. Repeat for all the dough
- In a non-stick pan, heat to medium-high heat and place the pancake in the pan
- When little brown spots start to form, flip the pancake over
- When brown spots form on the other side, it is cooked and remove from heat. Repeat for all the pancakes
- Take each piece and separate into the 2 pieces
- You can fold each piece while warm and set aside.
You can keep them in the fridge for a few days - Steam on high heat for 4 minutes
Leave a Reply