Taiwan-fu tamago kureepu / dan bing / Taiwanese egg crepes

Found both on the street and at specialty takeout & eat-in eateries, egg crepes with various fillings are one of the many breakfast choices in Taiwan. Dan bing with ham was my usual choice at an eatery near my work. The crepes presented here are adapted from a Japanese translation of a Taiwanese cookbook by Zhou Qingyuan (周清源). To lower sodium content, I skip the salt and use cold milk instead of cold water. Below is my current favorite combination with alderwood smoked salmon, a Pacific Northwest specialty, and Thai basil with a note of anise.

Whole recipe (2 dan bing egg crepes with fillings, without dipping sauce):
533 calories; 22.9 g protein; 20.4 g fat; 59.7 g carbohydrate; 56.9 g net carbs; 269 mg sodium; 427 mg cholesterol; 2.8 g fiber


<Ingredients>

  

(2 10"/25 cm dan bing egg crepes)
For crepe dough
75 g all-purpose wheat flour
23 g water
33 g milk
1-1 1/2 tsp oil (to fry crepes & eggs, not in photo)
Flour and potato (tapioca or corn) starch (to dust working surface, not in photo)

For fillings
2 eggs
15 g smoked salmon
2 green onions (17 g in photo)
Small handful Thai basil leaves (6 g leaves in photo)

<Directions>
1.

Place flour in a medium or large bowl.
Microwave water for 15 seconds or until boiling, and pour into the flour.

Quickly mix, aiming for a fine, crumbly mixture.

Add cold milk, mix well, and knead until supple and smooth, 5-10 minutes.

Divide dough into two, form balls, and place on surface or in covered container dusted with flour (and potato starch), and let sit for 30+ minutes.

If making crepes hours ahead of time or for the following day, put them in the fridge.

2.

Prepare filling.
Chop green onions, lightly beat eggs, and mix.

Break smoked salmon into smaller pieces, tear basil leaves, and add to egg mixture. 

Mix well, and set aside.

3.

Dust working surface with a mixture of flour and potato starch, and roll out each ball to about 10"/25 cm in diameter (size of frying pan).

4.

First cook crepes.
Heat oil, absorb excess oil with paper towel (save the oily towel for cooking eggs later), and fry each crepe.

Flip when one side of crepe is done (turns somewhat translucent), and cook both sides until a few light brown spots appear on surface.

Transfer to paper-lined plate to get rid of excess oil.

5.

Grease frying pan with the oily paper towel.
Pour half of egg mixture, quickly spread, and place one crepe over.

Gently press down to spread the egg underneath crepe.

Flip, and cook  (heat through) other side of crepe.

Roll or fold crepe with spatula. 

When done, transfer to cutting board.

Cook the other crepe in the same way.

6.

Cut into several sections, and serve as is or with a dipping sauce of your choice.

<Notes>

• Crepes can be cooked in advance and kept in the fridge for the following morning, but they taste much better when cooked and served on the same day.
• Dough balls keep in the fridge for at least two days.
• Depending on the size of your frying pan, divide the crepe dough into three. Thinner crepes taste better, although this is a matter of personal preference.
• Partial substitution of water and salt with milk seems to work relatively well for cutting back on sodium in pastry or noodles in general. Casein, which makes up over 80% of protein in milk, might have something do to with it, but this is nothing more than my guess. Milk does contain some sodium (40-50 mg per 50 g milk), and it adds a slightly rich note to the dough. For those who want to avoid casein, I would use water and shiokoji salted rice malt (starting at 1/2 tsp shiokoji for the recipe above).
• The dipping sauce in the photo above is a mixture of sweet chili sauce and soy sauce (1/2 tsp each is more than enough). Tom likes the combination of sweet chili sauce and ketchup.

(Last updated: May 1, 2019)