This is a kinda special dish for me with lots of memories. My dad sent me to an english school in Beijing after I failed my collage entrance test at the year 2009, studying IELTS, which is a language test that is required for overseas student who want to studying in Australia. I spent the whole of my last school holiday at that school, and to be honest, Beijing is never my favorite city in China. I’m from a small city at the middle part of China, where people are friendly there and everything are just as good as the heaven, quite and clean, the air is fresh and waters are clean. The YangZi river flows through the city, and therefore, the weather is so cool there, not so hot in summer, and never snow in winter. But Beijing is like a big capital city, where people are always busy and full of pressures. The traffic is terrible, and the sky is always gray all the year around. It is great to have a short holiday there in Beijing, lots of sights and historical buildings there which you can have a deep understanding of the Chinese culture. But to me, Beijing is never going to be the ideal city for living. So when I was there for 3 months for the IELTS test, I was very stressed out, and I have to say that I am not a city girl at all. But there are two things that helped me peacefully getting over those days. One is the shopping every weekend, and the other is the food they called the crispy egg roll which is sold in the early morning just beside almost every business buildings. I wouldn’t say this is a kind of traditional food in Beijing, but this is the best memory of me for this capital city of China haha…So 7 years has past and I still love this special breakfast until now. I tried so many times making this crispy egg roll at home, but never succeed. It requires a special flat pan that you could see in some Chinese restaurant making crispy pies or flat cakes. I was wondering how to make it without this special flat pan. But until just recently, I surprisingly found a way to make it! I then tried so many times, and they all worked! I am so happy that I can now make this special breakfast at home and just with few minutes time.

The secret is that to use the slowest fire cooking the egg base, so that I get plenty of time to shape the base to a perfect thin and round shape. And do use a fry pan with a relatively flat bottom, otherwise, it is hard to make the best shape.

I also creatively add my favorite kimchi in the roll, and instead of using the sweet soybean sauce, I used the Korean chili sauce, with some honey in it to make it less hot and a little bit sweet. But the original version of the crispy egg roll that I had in Beijing was with the sweet soybean sauce, which in more like a Chinese style.

I cooked several different versions of this dish, one without any sauce and just meat and vegetables, one with sweet soybean sauce, and one with the Korean chili sauce and honey. But the egg base is always the same, with eggs, plain flour, water, and spring onion.

Crispy egg roll – Chinese omelet

For making 2 rolls

Ingredients:

For the egg base (Mixing all the below ingredients together, making a smooth mixture)

• 3 eggs
• Salt as needed
• 60g plain flour
• 1 spring onion (cut into small mince)

For the insert of the roll:

• SPAM (cut into chunks)
• Bacon or ham
• Cucumber (cut into small slices)
• Kimchi (cut into small mince)
• Lettuce
• Others for your personal preference

For the sauce (Mixed all the below ingredients together)

• 1 spoon of Korean chili sauce (or sweet soybean sauce)
• a little bit honey

For presentation, I used the kraft paper, tie with a bow.

Instructions:

1. Frying the SPAM chunks, bacon and ham. Set aside.
2. Heating some oil in the flat pan, gently pour half of the egg mixture into the pan. (starting from the middle of the pan, and gently spread the mixture to the pan edge) I strongly suggest using the slowest fire to cook the base.
3. Turn-over the egg base when the mixture gets a bit dry and nearly cooked. Cook for about 1 more minute.
4. Setting the egg base on a board, add all the inserts on the top of the base. If you are using sauce, evenly brush the sauce to the top of the base before you add the inserts. (I don’t recommend to put too many inserts as it will get hard to roll them in)
5. Gently roll up the egg base.
6. Cut the roll into half, and cover each half with the kraft paper, and then tie a bow.

Well I would say, if you are going to have it at home, you don’t really need the kraft paper, just serve it in a wooden pan with a cup of milk or fruit juice. Such a beautiful breakfast I would say haha 😉