Rùn Bǐng

Rùn bǐng (潤餅), also written as runbing or ru bing, is a thin, pan-fried Taiwanese scallion pancake rolled up with savoury fillings and eaten as a Lunar New Year snack and casual street food. The dough is made by mixing wheat flour with boiling water to form a soft, half-cooked roux, then adding cold water and a little oil and kneading until silky and elastic. After resting, the dough is portioned, rolled into very thin circles and brushed with sesame oil before being pan-fried on a dry tava until it puffs and blisters. The cooked pancake is brushed with soy paste or sweet bean sauce, scattered with fresh bean sprouts, julienned carrot, chopped coriander and optionally egg, pork belly or dried tofu, then rolled into a tight cone and eaten by hand.

Unlike the thick, doughy cong you bing of northern China, the Taiwanese version is paper-thin, pliable and made from unleavened dough, which gives it the soft chew that distinguishes it from flaky, layered cousins. Rùn bǐng is most strongly associated with the streets of Tainan and the night markets of Taipei, where vendors cook the pancakes to order on flat iron griddles.