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March 13, 2018

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Home » District » Songjiang

Starving man’s creation proves popular with city’s snack lovers

Jianbing guozi is a northern Chinese snack that has its origins in Shandong Province and gained popularity in Tianjin in north China.

Wrapped in a crepe rolled over with a deep-fried dough stick and some tailor-made condiments placed inside, the street snack is also loved by Shanghai gourmands.

Quick and easy to cook, jianbing guozi hits all the sweet and spicy notes with a dose of crunchiness.

Pour a thin layer of batter made of flour and mung bean powder. Add eggs and fried wonton crisps, and spray ingredients including green onions, coriander, sweet-tasted chili sauce and many others. The whole thing is then folded like a blanket.

Legend has it that jianbing guozi originated from a man nicknamed Lao Dao, who invented the food during his hunt for food one day. The starving man found some flour and crepes that he later used as ingredients to make pancakes on a heated knife. Jianbing guozi was thus created.

“Back home, jianbing guozi is our main food. We dine with it at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But we made it smaller when we came to the south, because there is a wide difference in tastes between the south and north,” said Li Xinghong, who owns a small eatery in Songjiang University Town.

He has been making this snack since 1998 and opened a franchise store in the downtown Xujiahui area this year.

While Li keeps to the traditional way of cooking a jianbing guozi, some others have made new adaptations to cater for the individual tastes of Shanghai food lovers.

In the city center’s People’s Square, a food store has earned a reputation for its new-version of jianbing guozi, filled with crayfish, avocado, pork meat, bull frog or sole fish, making this traditional northern snack more chic and Western.




 

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