Dan Bing – Taiwanese Egg Crepes

Servings4

Time to Cook15 minutes

Time to Prepare15 minutes

Recipe developed for BC Egg by Diversivore

A classic and delicious Taiwanese breakfast food and snack, dan bing is made by cooking a whisked, lightly seasoned egg directly onto a thin crepe/pancake batter. It’s a little crispy on the outside, soft and a bit chewy on the inside, and you can customize it with a wide range of fillings.

Read through the “Notes” section at the end, to choose your fillings and to see the instructions on how to incorporate them into your dan bing.

Ingredients

Batter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (see note)
1/4 cup tapioca starch (or sweet potato starch – see note)
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups water
1 bunch scallion greens chopped (see note)
1 large egg

Eggs

4 large eggs
1 tsp sesame oil divided (1/4 tsp per egg)
1/8 tsp salt divided (~pinch per egg)

To Finish / Serve (See Notes Below)

various fillings (see notes for options)
Taiwanese soy paste
sweet chili sauce
Japanese mayo

Instructions

Batter

Whisk the water and starch together thoroughly in a medium bowl.
Add an egg to the water and starch mixture, and whisk thoroughly again.
Put the flour and salt into a large bowl or mixer. Add the liquid ingredients and whisk everything until a thin, uniform batter has been formed. Add the scallions and mix (or add them to the eggs in the next step, if you prefer).

Set the batter aside while you prepare the eggs and any fillings.

Eggs

Crack an egg into a bowl, then add 1/4 tsp of sesame oil and a pinch of salt. Mix together. Set aside and proceed to the cooking steps.

To Cook

Pour a portion of the batter into the hot pan (~1/4 of the batter for larger servings, or 1/6th for smaller servings). Tilt the pan from side to side in order to spread the batter into a thin circle. Cook until the pancake is mostly set, but still a little soft on top.
Pour the whisked egg mixture onto the top of the pancake. Spread the egg out as evenly as you can, and continue to cook until the egg is set enough to flip without making a mess.
(Optional – skip this step for a softer egg) Flip the pancake and cook the egg side for 5-10 seconds, then flip so the batter side is down once again.
Add any additional fillings (see notes for options and variations). Cook for an additional minute or so (depending on the add-ins), then remove the dan bing from pan and roll it up.
Repeat the cooking steps for all remaining batter and eggs.

To Serve

Drizzle any sauces over the finished dan bing, or serve these in separate small dishes fordipping. Slice (if desired) and serve.

For a portable option, consider adding the sauce to the inside of the dan bing during thecooking stage, then roll everything up and take it to go, burrito- style.

Notes

Sauces

Taiwanese soy paste is a thick, slightly sweet soy sauce. Kimlan is a popular and easy-to-find brand at most Chinese grocery stores. You can also use oyster sauce, or another salty/sweet soy-based sauce/condiment.

Sweet chili sauce is a Taiwanese sauce made with tomatoes and chilies. As the name suggests, it’s sweet and a little spicy. Look for it in Taiwanese grocery stores or online. You can substitute any spicy/sweet sauce you like, or use a more chili-forward hot sauce like sriracha.

Japanese mayo is mayonnaise made with more egg yolks and rice vinegar. It’s generally easy to find at Asian grocery stores, and can be found at many general grocery stores as well. If you can’t find Japanese mayo, you can use a regular Western brand.

Fillings

When it comes to filling and topping dan bing, the possibilities are virtually endless. The following are four variations I particularly enjoy, but feel free to explore your own ideas.

In all cases, the quantities you need for fillings are pretty loose and open to interpretation. Don’t over-stuff your dan bing, but beyond that, just go with your gut.

Classic Filling

Pork floss (rousong – 肉鬆), scallions, Taiwanese soy paste, chili sauce (optional).
Note that pork floss is usually easy to find at most Chinese and Pan-Asian grocery stores. Some stores will also carry fish or chicken versions, and even excellent vegetarian substitutes made from burdock. Sprinkle a bit of everything into the center of the dan bing. These ingredients don’t need to heat up much, so you don’t need to leave them long before removing the dan bing from the pan.

Ham, Corn & Cheese

Ham, cheddar cheese, corn, Japanese mayo.
Add cheese first so it starts to melt, then add ham, corn, and a bit more cheese. Let the cheese melt, then roll everything up and add Japanese mayo. Sweet chili sauce can be nice with this one too.

Nori & Mozzarella

Nori seaweed, mozzarella cheese, cilantro/parsley, Japanese mayo.
Add cheese first so it starts to melt, then cover with nori, cilantro/parsley, and a bit more cheese. Let the cheese melt to your liking, then roll up and add Japanese mayo.

Chinese Donut (Youtiao – 油條)

Pork floss (rousong – 肉鬆), scallions/cilantro/parsley, Chinese donut (youtiao), Taiwanese soy paste, chili sauce (optional).
More or less similar to the Classic variation, but with the added youtiao. Consider adding at least some of the sauce to the inside and/or cooking the egg a bit less so that the youtiao can soak up some of the flavours. As with the classic variation, the fillings don’t need to heat up much before rolling up and serving.

Additional Notes

Flour Measurement

If you have a scale, I highly recommend using the weight-based measurements for the flour and starch provided (click the Metric button below the ingredients list to see this). I used 3/4 cup, scooped gently from the bag of flour in 1/4 increments and leveled off. This came in at ~130 grams (4.6 oz) on my home scale. Most standard volume-to-weight conversions will tell you that 1 cup of flour should weigh 120 grams – so you can see the problem here. If you have no choice but to use volumes, I suggest scooping the flour in the same fashion. Be prepared to adjust your quantities a bit to get the desired batter consistency.

Tapioca Starch Alternatives

If you don’t have tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour), you can use an equal volume of sweet potato flour. You can also use corn starch, but I would suggest using slightly less, as it tends to absorb liquid more readily than tapioca starch.

Scallions (Green Onions)

I prefer to add the scallion greens to the batter so that they can cook in the pancake itself, but some people prefer to add them to the egg mixture. You can also add them as a filling in the dan bing, or omit them entirely if you’re not into onions. Chinese (garlic) chives can also be substituted for scallion greens.