Tiantai Stuffed Pancake Rolls 天台饺饼筒

How it is made

The Tiantai Mountain scenic area (天台山) describes the household method. Pork, pig's liver, bean noodles, strips of tofu and egg, winter bamboo shoots, carrot, dried tofu and dried radish shreds are fried until cooked, seasoned with spring onion and left to cool. Flour is stirred with water to a batter, and a handful is spread by hand into a thin round on a flat griddle (鏊盘); the cooked skins are stacked on a rice sieve. The fillings are laid on a skin in order, the skin is rolled into a tube, and both ends are folded in.

The Tiantai version keeps a fixed order and set of fillings. The manager of Yuqingzhai (御清斋), a century-old Tiantai shop, told Taizhou Daily (台州日报) that the layers start with fatty pork, then pig's liver, then steamed egg cake, then meatball cake, followed by bean vermicelli, celtuce and dried shiitake. She said the dozen or so fixed fillings sit in neat rows when the roll is cut, and that the roll must be pan-fried until golden on all sides.

Flavour and texture

The skin is thin and pliable. The Tiantai scenic area says the fried skin turns oily-fragrant and crisp. The Yuqingzhai manager told Taizhou Daily that Tiantai skins are soft, unlike the harder, chewier skins of Jiaojiang, and so thin they look transparent.

How it is eaten

Families in Tiantai make the rolls for the Spring Festival, Qingming, the start of summer (立夏), the Ghost Festival in the seventh lunar month (七月半), the Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Eve. They serve both as offerings, to ancestors at Qingming and to the gods at the Ghost Festival and on New Year's Eve, and as food for honoured guests. One local story credits the roll to the monk Ji Gong (济公), who wrapped leftovers in a pancake to eat at the next meal; under the name 'Ji Gong rolls' (济公卷饼) it was presented at the Shanghai World Expo, according to the scenic area.