Xi'an Street Food - Guo Kui

[Marcsch]

Hello!

I have taken quite a few trips to China and have done my best to take cooking classes, and capture new recipes while I've been there. My favorite foods are the street foods, and with the exception of Fuchsia Dunlop's amazing books, it has been very hard to find recipes for the "real deal".

The memorable foods I've had in my travels were in Xi'an, in the Muslim district where they have stall after stall of amazing street food. My favorite food was Guo Kui, which was a flaky fried dough (almost pastry-like), stuffed with minced meat, sichuan pepper and chilies. It was incredible and I cant find anything online to tell me how it's made. I'm wondering if anyone out there has a recipe they can share?

Fuchsia Dunlop describes this food in her newest book, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, but unfortunately there is no recipe and I've found no way to contact the author.

Any assistance is much appreciated!

Thanks

Marc

[marlena spieler]

I'll email Fuschia and tell her about your posting.

I love Xi'an food too,

marlena

[Marcsch]

I'll email Fuschia and tell her about your posting.

I love Xi'an food too,

marlena

←

Thank you SO much. I'm a huge fan and have been cooking my way through her books! This dish and the Beijing Jian Bing are the two I've had no clue how to duplicate at home, and my instructors in culinary school had never heard of either, unfortunately!

Thanks again. Much appreciated!

Regards,

Marc

[jo-mel]

I'll email Fuschia and tell her about your posting.

I love Xi'an food too,

marlena

←

Thank you SO much. I'm a huge fan and have been cooking my way through her books! This dish and the Beijing Jian Bing are the two I've had no clue how to duplicate at home, and my instructors in culinary school had never heard of either, unfortunately!

Thanks again. Much appreciated!

Regards,

Marc

←

It took me years to find a recipe for Jian Bing, but now it can be found on the internet.

Here is a link to a recent EGullet thread on pancakes and part way down, I have a lead to jian bings. Also you can do a google search. Good luck!

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=117350

[Fengyi]

This dish and the Beijing Jian Bing are the two I've had no clue how to duplicate at home, and my instructors in culinary school had never heard of either, unfortunately!

←

The Beijing Jianbing will be hard to make without the deep-fried dough sheet. After talking to lots of people, I reckon that it's just a thin sheet of stretched dough - but wouldn't trust myself to make it at home!

But besides that, its just a savoury crepe batter, green onion, egg, coriander/cilantro, and tianmianjiang (and hot sauce if wanted). Assemble in correct way (you can buy the industrial jianbing makers at a market near me ) and eat. But the fried dough bit....hmmm. hard!

Good luck!

BTW, the Olympics have resulted in the removal of most jianbing makers boo!

[liuzhou]

I'll email Fuschia and tell her about your posting.

She also posts here under the name 'fiore'

[jo-mel]

What did I do wrong when I posted my last coments?? I'll re-do them here -----

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took me years to find a recipe for Jian Bing, but now it can be found on the internet.

Here is a link to a recent EGullet thread on pancakes and part way down, I have a lead to jian bings. Also you can do a google search. Good luck!

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=117350

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Fengyi -- what is the sheet of stretched dough? When I've seen Jian Bing made, it was just the crepe batter spread over the cooking surface and then the other stuff went on top to cook before being folded. Some cooks put a fried devil (you zha gui' 油炸鬼) inside the folded crepe, but I preferred them without them.

I hope the jian bing makers are finally allowed to do their magic again. I'd Loved to have been in Beijing for the olympics --- but only if I could have indulged myself with those tasty crepes!

[Marcsch]

Thanks for the Jian Bing links. I've scoured the internet and tried different recipes for it, and even went so far as to have a chef in shanghai give me a lesson. The results were passable, but not quite the same. Part of the problem was getting the right sauce components here in the states, and part of it was trying to find the fried item in the middle.

When I've had jian bing, I've had it two different ways. Sometimes with the fried chinese cruller in the middle, which is still somewhat doughy in the center like a doughnut. Other times, I've had it made with a very crispy, flat fried object in the middle. I'm not sure what that was, but I liked it better. (It was fried--what's not to love?)

I've tried making a few variations at home, and while the results were decent, they didnt have the same "blow your mind" aspect as those I've had on the streets when I've been lucky enough to get the real deal

With the Guo Kui, I've had no luck at all!

Thanks again for the kind and thoughtful replies!

Marc

[Fengyi]

When I've had jian bing, I've had it two different ways....  Other times, I've had it made with a very crispy, flat fried object in the middle.  I'm not sure what that was, but I liked it better.  (It was fried--what's not to love?)

←

The consensus seems to be that this is the 'deep fried dough sheet' - at least ways, that's what people say it is. Don't know how to make it... It's definitely not 油条 (youtiao) and I think that the sheets are commercially purchased.

Actually, here in BJ, I've only ever had Jianbing with the flat dough thing. But then again, I've always been told by Shandong people that they 'do jianbing wrong' in Beijing

[mudbug]

Marcsch,

 

I hope this ongoing conversation reaches you. Sometimes it simply takes time for knowledge to be shared.

 

Here is a recipe for you:

 

Crispy Stuffed Flatbread (Guo Kui/锅盔) thanks to Wei, the Red House Spice blogger who created this particular recipe for her viewers.

https://redhousespice.com/spiced-beef-flatbread/

 

Guo Kui (pot helmet) - streetfood
Guo kui, a Chinese flatbread, is said to have originated during the Tang Dynasty, around 1,000 years ago. The story goes that a starving laborer building the Qianling Mausoleum cooked a flour-and-water mixture in his tall headpiece, which was similar in name to "guo kui", over a wood fire to satisfy his hunger. The dish became popular with laborers and was even included in the Chinese military's rations.

 

We know the location of origin as Shaanxi today. Guo kui is a type of thin, crispy flatbread that’s cooked sans oil over charcoal in a clay oven.