Egg Crepe

Egg Crepe, originally uploaded by myviaggi.

I am often amazed how easily we can adapt to a new life-style: cars, coffee, pizza, music and Hollywood. The new airport terminal in Beijing just wowed me again yesterday. Are we getting so spoiled with all the latest and greatest these days? Not all! It is certainly frustrating to me whenever my niece cries on the floor asking for McDonalds or KFC.

Gladly, I have found that our breakfast has not changed much. At least not this one - the Egg Crepe. It is my favourite and a Beijng and Tianjing local delicacy.

From the picture you can see how many ingredients are on added to this crepe: eggs, spring onion, coriander, and sesame. Actually more than these... The base is a mixture of flour and green bean flour with a raw egg spread on top. When the crepe and egg are almost cooked, the above ingredients are sprinkled over it. Then, the large round crepe is flipped over for sauces such as sweet soybean paste, or chili. Finally, a very thin, fried, crispy pastry is placed on the crepe. I say very thin because when touched the crispy pasty easily breaks into pieces. It needs to be carefully placed on the crepe before wrapped by the crepe. The entire wrap is then folded into a hand-sized shape.

The mouthful of flavours might be a bit too much for a breakfast and I wonder why I like it so much. I think I know: it is not the food but the retrospect of the making. Generation after generation, kids stand in front of the venders watching the crepe being made, rolling their eyes when a spoonful of thick liquid turned into a thin round-shaped pancake, being amused by every ingredient added at each step, and feeling desperate for a bite of the multiple layers of tastes wrapped in this hot, flimsy and filling little pancake. It is a sophisticated fast food that is irreplaceable by McDonalds.