For many people, dabing 大饼 is their first introduction to Chinese street food. And what a great place to start!
A huge round of flaky bread, leavened or unleavened, dabing is cooked in a contraption that looks like a giant waffle maker, leaving it oil-crisp on the outside and flaky, chewy and soft within. Dabing are always savoury - topped with white sesame seeds and green scallions; or brushed with a red, spicy, garlicky sauce made from pixian soy bean paste.
Bing 饼 is an all-encompassing word describing any food that is flat and round. The fine wheat pancakes used to eat Peking Duck are
bing, the small flaky scallion filled pastries of Shanghai are
bing, and moon cakes, whether savoury or sweet, are also
bing. The word isn't exclusive to Chinese foods either - French crepes, pizzas, and tortillas are all types of
bing.
Da bing 大饼
(big bing) simply refers to a large flat round.
Da bing are eaten at any time of day as a snack, but in Shanghai they are one of the 'Four Kings of Breakfast', the other being deep fried dough sticks (
youtiao); sticky rice balls filled with salted egg, pork, and pickles (
cifan); and fresh soy milk (
doujiang).
To buy dabing, simply nominate a monetary amount - one yuan, two yuan, and so on, and the vendor will cut up a triangular slice for you of the correct weight.
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| Dabing vendor with folded dabing ready for sale - plain on the left, spiced on the right |
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Leavened dabing with sesame and scallions
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| Dabing cooking in the bing-maker |
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| Flaky unleavened dabing with spiced soybean and garlic sauce |
Shanghai Street Foods - The Complete Guide:
Number 3 Liangpi - a spicy cold noodle dish
Number 4 Langzhou Lamian - hand-pulled noodles
Number 5 Cong You Bing - fried shallot pancakes
Number 6 Baozi - steamed buns, Shanghai style
Number 7 Jian Bing - the famous egg pancake
Number 14 Bao Mi Hua - exploding rice flowers
Number 16 Bing Tang Shan Zha - crystal sugar hawthorns
Number 21 Suzhou Shi Yue Bing - homestyle mooncakes
Number 22 Gui Hua Lian'ou - honeyed lotus root stuffed with sticky rice
Number 23 Cong You Ban Mian - scallion oil noodles
Number 25 Nuomi Cai Tou - fried clover pancakes
Number 26 Da Bing, Shao Bing - sesame breakfast pastries
Number 27 Ci Fan - sticky rice breakfast balls
Number 28 Gui Hua Gao - steamed osmanthus cake
Number 29 Zongzi - bamboo leaf wrapped sticky rice
Number 31 Mala Tang - DIY spicy soup
Number 32 Salt and Pepper Fried Chicken
Number 33 San Xian Doupi - Three Delicacies Wrapped in Tofu Skin
Number 34 Jidan Bing - savoury egg puffs
Number 35 Shiliu Zhi - Fresh pomegranate juice
Number 36 Dabing - big crispy pancakes
Labels: China, Chinese street food, food