This is one of my favorite street foods in China.I love their spicy taste in spite of the fact that I am not very fond of spicy foods.This one has been my favorite snack from the day I first tried it and I love to have it with a cup of tea/ coffee.
My dear friend Ju first got me this Qiancenbing one evening when I was really hunger but was lazy to prepare an early dinner.She asked me to try it out knowing well about my ‘fondness’ for spicy stuff and I hesitated and yet hunger and the wonderful aroma drove me to take a bite and a sip of piping hot coffee and I was in love with this yummy stuff..Ever since its a regular in my house during tea time.We also discovered it to be an excellent side dish for out Sunday porridge.
All along Ju used to bring home this tasty bite when she visited us and one day in my inquisitiveness to learn more about it I asked her to take me along when she got it.
She took me to a shop manned by two women-a mother and daughter perhaps.The younger woman, may be in her teens, was busy chopping a huge Qiancenbing and packing it off for the customers while the other one was busy in the ‘kitchen’ preparing it.
I eagerly asked the lady if I could watch her preparing and she smiled in approval.I stood there and watched her take out a really huge ball of dough[the size of 2 footballs put together!] which I guessed was made out of all purpose flour becoz of its texture.
She rolled it out into a large rectangle and put in a couple of handfuls of finely chopped spring onions,gathered the ends back to a ball and rolled them out to a huge Paratha.
A huge heated griddle was waiting to take in the rolled out dough and she cooked,closed, each side like we do for Parathas and when it was almost done she brushed a layer of some sort of spicy sauce and topped it up with a generous helping of sesame seeds.The griddle was closed once again and the Qiancenbing cooked to perfection!!!This was transferred to the counter where it is cut and sold.
For RMB 3 the quantity that we get is enough to feed 3 hungry mouths!!!The one that you see above is one portion from the lot that I had with coffee that evening.
This is usually sold as a street food and I have not seen it in restaurants.[Maybe they are sold in restaurants else where].
When we buy this piping hot it is crispy on one side-the side with the spicy sauce, and a bite of this crunchy deliciousness and a sip of piping hot coffee- All I can say is one word -Heaven!!!!!!
Very nice dish, looks tasty too. Would love to try sometime when I visit China :):)
Looks yum PJ…and the name is so catchy 🙂
umm looks yummy PJ