Pan-fried Chive and Egg Pockets (Jiucai Hezi)
A traditional Chinese pastry made of a flour dough skin, filled with Chinese chives and scrambled eggs, and pan-fried until golden brown on both sides.
Story
Savor the comforting taste of traditional Chinese home cooking with these crispy, golden-brown pan-fried pockets. A beloved street food and family staple, this savory pastry offers a nostalgic essence of rustic kitchens and bustling morning markets.
Ingredients
flour
1 bowl
warm water
half a bowl
Chinese chives (washed and chopped)
eggs (cracked into a bowl and beaten, scrambled into small egg pieces)
oil
salt (add when wrapping)
Instructions
1
Make the dough
Mix one bowl of flour with half a bowl of warm water. Mix and stir the flour and water together according to this ratio, knead into a smooth dough, cover with a clean damp cloth, and let it rest for half an hour.
2
Make the filling
Wash the Chinese chives and finely chop them; crack the eggs into a bowl and stir well with chopsticks, heat oil in a pan, and stir-fry into small scrambled egg pieces; once the eggs have cooled slightly, pour in the finely chopped Chinese chives and mix them together. Do not add salt first; wait until you are about to wrap the filling into the dough skins to add the salt, so that the Chinese chives do not release water.
3
Wrap
Knead the dough evenly and divide it into equal-sized dough portions; take one dough portion, roll it into a round ball, then flatten it, and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a circular dough skin. Place an appropriate amount of filling on one side of the dough skin, then pinch the edges closed, pinching some decorative pleated edges just like when wrapping dumplings.
4
Pan-fry
Heat a flat-bottomed pan, pour in a layer of oil, and once the oil is hot, place the wrapped chive boxes into the pan and pan-fry over low heat. Pan-fry until the bottom turns golden brown, then flip them over. Wait until both sides are golden brown, then they are ready to be taken out of the pan.
