Date Published: August 7th, 2020 | Last Updated: August 7th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: asian, snacks
Serves: 4 crepes | Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 30 mins

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I’m SO excited to share this recipe with you guys! This is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE Taiwanese breakfast item. I would eat this dish nearly every day in Taiwan for breakfast from Hong Ya Hamburger which is a breakfast shop just outside the alleyway of our home. There are many varieties of dan bing, but NOTHING beats the cheese dan bing. I remember when I was a kid, this one time my mom accidentally ordered a dan bing without the cheese and the shitty younger me threw a hissy fit and refused to eat breakfast that morning (sorry mom, love you!). I also remember my mom trying to make dan bing for us in Canada from pre-packaged wrappers that she found at the Asian grocer, but unfortunately it just wasn’t the same. Trying to recreate a cheese dan bing on my own seemed like a daunting task. I had never had a good dan bing outside of Taiwan. Dare I challenge the Taiwanese street food gods and try it myself where far better cooks have failed? And from scratch?? I guess this is why they call it quarantine cooking. What have I got to lose? After a few attempts from different recipes and many failed gloopy bings, I came across ChooChoo-ca-Chew‘s recipe and it came out near perfect! This recipe is going straight into the top 10 list. I owe this recipe to her blog and I’ve rewritten it with tweaks and notes from my experience cooking these so they can come out perfect for you every time – and of course, lots of pictures to guide you through the process. It’s actually pretty quick and easy to make, but the tricky part is getting your crepe spread out evenly to the right thickness. Once you get the hang of it, it’s a breeze.

A typical quick breakfast for me in Taiwan

What is a cheese dan bing? The direct translation is cheese egg “crepe”. It’s essentially an egg with melty cheese wrapped up in a crepe-like wrapper topped with soy sauce paste. Kind of like a cheesy omelette wrapped in a ‘bing’. Chinese people use the term “bing” as an overarching word for pretty much anything round and flat. Whether it’s cakes, pastries, sweets, or savoury spring onion pancakes, as long as they’re that shape it’s a bing! I’ve used the word “crepe” in the title translation to replace “bing” because in this recipe, this version of a bing is most similar to a crepe. However when I think of crepes, I think of sweet french crepes with chocolate, fruit and whipped cream which, although delicious, just doesn’t fit in here so I’ll continue to call them “bings” for the rest of this post.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

Bing Batter:
- 110g (3/4 cup) all purpose flour
- 30g (1/4 cup) tapioca flour (or potato starch)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 280ml (1 cup + 2 Tbsps) water
2 spring onions, chopped
Assembly:
- shredded cheese (~1/3 cup per crepe)
- 1 egg per crepe
- ground white pepper
- soy sauce paste to drizzle
  - Soy sauce paste is CRUCIAL to this dish. Soy sauce paste is essentially a thickened and sweeter version of soy sauce that pairs beautifully with the cheesy egg. I always ask for extra sauce when I order dan bing. You should be able to find it from most Asian grocers. It’s on my to-do list to try and recreate soy sauce paste at home, so keep a look-out for the recipe when it’s uploaded!

Directions:

Make the batter: in a bowl, mix the all purpose flour, tapioca flour, salt and egg in a bowl. Add in 1/4 of the water and mix until there are no clumps then add the rest of the water and continue to mix. Set aside.

Note: you can add the spring onions to the batter as well, but I always have trouble having them distribute evenly when cooking so I choose to keep it separate and sprinkle it on instead.

Cook the Bing: Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add 1 tsp of oil and swirl your pan around to coat it in oil. Once your skillet is hot enough, add 1/3 cup of batter into the middle of the pan and quickly swirl your pan around to let the batter distribute around the pan evenly. Sprinkle spring onions over the batter.

Once the edges of the bing are lifting from the pan edges (see second photo), flip it over and cook the other side. Continue to cook until you get small toasty brown spots on the bing on both sides. You can use your spatula to compress down areas that are taking longer to cook. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat this step to finish cooking the rest of the bings. Don’t worry if they’re not perfectly round or if your spring onions aren’t perfectly distributed – you’re rolling them up in the end anyway!

Note: Like pancakes, the first one might be a dud to get the temperature of the pan right. Don’t get discouraged!

Tip: If you’re making multiple dishes for a meal, you can make the bings first and set them aside until you’re ready for the next step. The next step goes fairly quickly (roughly 1-2mins each to assemble) and you want to serve these hot so I suggest not starting this next step until all your other dishes are ready.

Assemble the Dan Bing: In the same skillet (still on MED heat), pour in one lightly beaten egg into the centre then quickly place one bing ontop of the egg while it’s still undercooked (it’s very important you put the bing on the egg while it’s still undercooked so it sticks together. If you let the egg fully cook, the egg will separate from the bing). Let it cook for about 30 seconds until you’re able to lift and flip the egg with the bing together without it falling apart.

Once flipped over, add shredded cheese in a line in the middle of the egg, then top with a small drizzle of soy sauce paste then a dusting of white pepper. Fold up both sides of the dan bing towards the middle. Press it down lightly for the cheese to stick the layers together then transfer to a plate. Repeat to make the rest of the bings.

Slice into 1 inch pieces and serve with extra soy sauce paste for dipping if needed. Enjoy!

Tip: You can also add additional toppings other than the cheese. Some popular options in Taiwan: corn, ham, pork floss…etc.

Summarized Recipe:

Taiwanese Cheese Egg Crepe 起司蛋餅 (Cheese Dan Bing)

Date Published: August 7th, 2020 | Last Updated: August 7th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: asian, snacks
Serves: 4 crepes | Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Bing Batter:
- 110g (3/4 cup) all purpose flour
- 30g (1/4 cup) tapioca flour (or potato starch)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 280ml (1 cup + 2 Tbsps) water
2 spring onions, chopped
Assembly:
- shredded cheese (~1/3 cup per crepe)
- 1 egg per crepe
- ground white pepper
- soy sauce paste to drizzle

Directions:

Make the batter: in a bowl, mix the all purpose flour, tapioca flour, salt and egg in a bowl. Add in 1/4 of the water and mix until there are no clumps then add the rest of the water and continue to mix. Set aside.
Cook the Bing: Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add 1 tsp of oil and swirl your pan around to coat it in oil. Once your skillet is hot enough, add 1/3 cup of batter into the middle of the pan and quickly swirl your pan around to let the batter distribute around the pan evenly. Sprinkle spring onions over the batter.
Once the edges of the bing are lifting from the pan edges, flip it over and cook the other side. Continue to cook until you get small toasty brown spots on the bing on both sides. You can use your spatula to compress down areas that are taking longer to cook. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat this step to finish cooking the rest of the bings.
- Note: Like pancakes, the first one might be a dud to get the temperature of the pan right. Don’t get discouraged!
Assemble the Dan Bing: In the same skillet (still on MED heat), pour in one lightly beaten egg into the centre then quickly place one bing ontop of the egg while it’s still undercooked. Let it cook for about 30 seconds until you’re able to lift and flip the egg with the bing together without it falling apart.
Once flipped over, add shredded cheese in a line in the middle of the egg, then top with a small drizzle of soy sauce paste then a dusting of white pepper. Fold up both sides of the dan bing towards the middle. Press it down lightly for the cheese to stick the layers together then transfer to a plate. Repeat to make the rest of the dan bings.
Slice into 1 inch pieces and serve with extra soy sauce paste for dipping if needed. Enjoy!

Tip: You can also add additional toppings other than the cheese. Some popular options in Taiwan: corn, ham, pork floss…etc.

Date Published: August 7th, 2020 | Last Updated: August 7th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: asian, mains, easy, vegetarian
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: 2 mins + time to cook noodles

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If you’ve ever been to Taiwan in the middle of summer, you’ll know that not only does it get hot, it gets HUMID AF. What’s better on a hot sticky day than a refreshing bowl of cold noodles? This dish is commonly found everywhere in Taiwan – you can even pick them up from most convenience stores, pre-packaged in a lunch box and ready to eat – just add the sauce! The direct translation of “liang mian” is “chilled” or “cold” noodles and it’s served as a bowl of cold white noodles mixed with a savoury peanut sauce and topped with cucumber and carrot slices, occasionally a sliced egg. It’s delicious, filling and crazy easy to make! It’s also a great lunch to pack to eat on the go or to avoid the microwave queues at work or school 😉.

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

Sauce:
- 6 Tbsps crunchy peanut butter (smooth is okay too but crunchy gives it better texture)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp black vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 Tbsps warm water (or more)
White Noodles (any brand you like)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 cucumber, julienned
1 carrot, julienned

Directions:

Make the sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients together except for the water. Once combined, add 1 Tbsp of warm water at a time to the sauce and mix until you get a thin runny sauce but not overly watery (only add as much water as you need).

Make the noodles according to package instructions. Drain well and rinse under cold running water until the noodles are cooled. Drizzle 1 Tbsp of sesame oil on the noodles and mix it around so they don’t stick together.

Assemble the noodles by adding the sauce to the noodles with the cucumber and carrots. Mix until combined. Taste and adjust flavours as needed. If you’ve made too many noodles (as I always do because I’m terrible at judging how much noodles to cook), make more sauce for the noodles until you’re happy with the intensity of the flavours. Serve cold!

Tip: If you’re making this ahead of time, I’d suggest you pack the sauce separately and pour it on the noodles when you’re ready to eat to avoid the noodles getting too soft from sitting in sauce for too long.

Summarized Recipe:

Taiwanese Cold Noodles 涼麵 (Liang Mian)

Ingredients:

Sauce:
- 6 Tbsps crunchy peanut butter (smooth is okay too but crunchy gives it better texture)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp black vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 Tbsps warm water (or more)
White Noodles (any brand you like)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 cucumber, julienned
1 carrot, julienned

Directions:

Make the sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients together except for the water. Once combined, add 1 Tbsp of warm water at a time to the sauce and mix until you get a thin runny sauce but not overly watery (only add as much water as you need).
Make the noodles according to package instructions. Drain well and rinse under cold running water until the noodles are cooled. Drizzle 1 Tbsp of sesame oil on the noodles and mix it around so they don’t stick together.
Assemble the noodles by adding the sauce to the noodles with the cucumber and carrots. Mix until combined. Taste and adjust flavours as needed. Serve cold!
- If you’ve made too many noodles (as I always do because I’m terrible at judging how much noodles to cook), make more sauce for the noodles until you’re happy with the intensity of the flavours.