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. I could never get enough! I decided to try my hand at making it and it was surprisingly easy to make, HOWEVER, it does take a little bit of trial and error to get your crepe the perfect thickness. If it’s your first time making this, I’d recommend doubling the recipe to give you a bit more leeway incase it takes a couple tries. If the crepe is too thick, it tends to be too chewy. I’m sure there are multiple ways to make this with multiple variations, but I’ve adapted this recipe to mimic the way the breakfast shop makes it in Taiwan.
Servings: makes 2-3 crepes (depending on the size you make it)
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsps cornstarch or tapioca flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup water
- Vegetable oil for pan-frying the crepes (you’ll need ~1 Tbsp per crepe)
- 1/2 stalk green onion (aka scallion), finely chopped
- 2-3 eggs (you’ll need 1 egg per crepe)
- 1 cup of grated cheese (any cheese will do, but I prefer cheddar)
- Soy sauce paste to drizzle
- pinch of ground white pepper per crepe
Directions:
- Mix the flour, cornstarch and salt together. Add in half the water and whisk until no clumps form, then add in the rest of the water until combined. You should have a liquid-y batter. Set aside.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan on medium-high and add 1 Tbsp of oil and swirl around until the pan is covered. The pan is ready when it starts to lightly smoke.
- Now the tricky part (try to do this step quickly): When the pan is hot enough, add in a small ladle of batter to the middle of the pan and swirl the pan around until the batter distributes evenly in a round shape. Try to have your crepe as thin as possible as you swirl it. Quickly sprinkle the chopped green onion over the crepe when the batter is still wet and cooking. The crepe should cook quite quickly – flip it after 2-3 mins when the bottom is cooked and easy to pick up without falling apart and cook the other side for another 2-3mins.
- When the crepe is cooked and slightly brown on both sides, remove the crepe from the pan and let it cool on a wire cooling rack while you make the other crepes.
- When you’ve finished making all your crepes, now it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients to assemble it: on medium heat in the frying pan, add a small drizzle of oil and swirl it around to cover your pan. Add one beaten egg to the middle of your pan, then quickly add one crepe on top of the egg while it’s still liquid-y (this will help the crepe stick to the egg). After 10-15 seconds the egg should be just cooked enough to allow you to flip over the whole thing.
- Once flipped, add a small amount of grated cheese to the middle of your crepe in a line, then drizzle the soy sauce paste over the cheese and add a pinch of ground white pepper over it.
- Fold each side of the crepe into the middle (like a letter). Flip the crepe roll over and keep it on the pan for another 30 seconds to let the cheese melt. Done! Repeat for the other crepes. Serve immediately. You can serve it with more soy sauce paste and hot sauce.
Notes:
- If your crepe is chewy, try making a thinner crepe by putting less batter into the pan or swirl your batter out on the pan further. Make sure you do the swirl fairly quickly before the crepe cooks too quickly.
- If your crepe turned out perfectly out of the pan but then became chewy and soft as it cooled, make sure you cool the crepe on a wire rack to allow adequate cooling without the humidity from the heat of the crepe to soften it up.
Abby Approved 