''Jianbing guozi'' () or " deep-fried dough sticks rolled in a thin pancake" is a popular Chinese street food originating in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...

, and has been hailed as "one of China's most beloved street breakfasts", especially in Tianjin and neighboring

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

province. It is a sub-category of ''

Jianbing ''Jianbing'' () is a traditional Chinese street food similar to crêpes. It is a type of ''bing'' generally eaten for breakfast and hailed as "one of China's most popular street breakfasts". The main ingredients of ''jianbing'' are a batter o ...

''. It consists of pancakes made from mung bean flour, eggs, and ''

youtiao ''Youtiao'' (), known in Southern China as Yu Char Kway is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough of Chinese origin and (by a variety of other names) also popular in other East and Southeast Asian cuisines. Conventionally, ''youtiao ...

'' (fried dough sticks) or crispy "dragons", served with

sweet bean sauce Tianmian sauce (), also known as sweet bean sauce, sweet flour sauce or sweet wheat paste, is a thick, smooth, dark brown or black paste with either a mild, savory or sweet flavor. It is commonly used in Northern Chinese cuisine, Northeastern ...

, diced green onion, and optionally

chili sauce Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers. Chili sauce may be hot, sweet or a combination thereof, and may differ from hot sauce in that many sweet or mild varieties exist, which is typically lacking in hot sauces ...

History

''Jianbing guozi'' originated in northern China. Its history can be traced back 2,000 years to Shandong province during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). According to legends, Chancellor

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is ...

encountered the problem of feeding his soldiers after they lost their woks. He ordered the cooks to mix water with wheat flour to make batter, and then spread it on shields, or flat copper

griddle A griddle, in the UK also called a girdle, is a cooking device consisting mainly of a broad, usually flat cooking surface. Nowadays it can be either a movable metal pan- or plate-like utensil, a flat heated cooking surface built into a stove or ...

s over a flame. The dish raised the soldiers’ morale and helped them win the battle. After that, jianbingguozi was passed down through generations in Shandong province and gradually spread to different parts of China.

Cooking

''Jianbing guozi'' is prepared by creating a shell for the pastry and then filling it with the stuffings and wrapping it, as illustrated below in five steps.

Other varieties

Shandong-style ''Jianbing guozi''

''Jianbing guozi'' from Shandong province tastes crispy and harder as its batter is formed from the flour mixture that mainly contains coarse grains such as corn, sorghum and millet. In the old days, people had Shandong-style ''Jianbing guozi'' mainly by rolling it with scallions or serving it with meat soup. Nowadays, the varieties of fillings are richer and differ according to one’s preference, for example, sweet potatoes, lettuce and pork are also used as fillings.

Shanxi-style ''Jianbing guozi''

Shanxi ''Jianbing guozi'' uses wheat flour and the practice is roughly the same as that of Tianjin ''Jianbing guozi''.

Tahe-style ''Jianbing guozi''

Tahe ''Jianbing guozi'', from Tahe,

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

province, is processed meat, shredded potatoes, and a number of other ingredients wrapped in a thin egg-and-flour pancake. It is a bit spicy. The resulting product is quite fat in size.

Gallery of ''Jianbing guozi'' around the world

References

{{reflist Street food in China Tianjin cuisine Pancakes Breakfast dishes Stuffed dishes