Fried Pancake Noodles
炒饼
No-one throws food away in China. The looks of outrage I garner tossing carrot tops, broccoli stems or asparagus into the trash has made me change my decadent ways. Chao bing, or fried pancake, was a dish originally designed to use up stale bits of flatbreads and pancakes, but nowadays, it’s made its way onto menus in the simple restaurants of Beijing. It’s something I often order over noodles as the pancake absorbs the flavour of the sauce.
This is the Chinese equivalent of the British dish ‘bubble and squeak’. Any leftovers in the fridge - half an onion, the ends of old cabbage, sad-looking leaves, a worse-for-wear carrot - can end up in the stir-fry. Chao bing is a classic working man’s lunch in the North; crowds of construction men or factory workers digging into the hearty and stodgy dish to keep them going. This is not subtle Chinese food, but it’s certainly tasty.
To cook this right it requires a very hot wok at the end and more oil than looks reasonable.
Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients
300g soft flatbread or pancake
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
3 green onion - finely sliced
1/2 pepper - green or red - julienned
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon whole Sichuan peppercorns
1/4 Cabbage - finely sliced
1/2 carrot - julienned
Salt
Method
Finely cut the pancakes into strands. Do this by rolling the pancake and then cutting so they resemble noodles. Shred the cabbage, prepare the vegetables and set aside.
Heat two tablespoons of oil of a medium heat in a large wok and fry the sliced bread/pancake until it colours. Toss the slices a few times.
Drizzle in the soy sauces and white pepper and stir until mixed.
Add a bit more oil if needed, then add the green onions, peppers, Sichuan peppercorns and two thirds of the garlic and fry for 30 seconds.
Add the cabbage and carrot and fry on a higher heat for a minute or two. Season the cabbage with a pinch of salt.
Turn off the heat, add the left over minced garlic and stir. Taste for seasoning; depending on the type of pancake used, you might need more salt. Then serve.
