Jianbing guozi

Jianbing guozi or "deep-fried dough sticks rolled in a thin pancake" is a popular Chinese street food originating in Tianjin. The exact origin of Jianbing guozi has not been verified, and it was the supplement of Tianjin Ta Kung Pao on November 20, 1933, that first appeared in modern newspapers. In June 2017, the skill of making Jianbing guozi was included in the fourth batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage list in Tianjin. And has been hailed as "one of China's most beloved street breakfasts", especially in Tianjin and the neighboring province of Hebei. It is a sub-category of jianbing and consists of pancakes made from mung bean flour, eggs, and youtiao (fried dough sticks) or crispy "dragons", served with sweet bean sauce, diced green onion, and optionally chili sauce. Jianbing guozi originated in northern China. Its history can be traced back 2,000 years to Shandong province during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Legend holds that they were invented by Chancellor Zhuge Liang when he needed to feed his soldiers after they had lost their woks. He ordered the cooks to mix water with wheat flour to make batter, and then spread it on shields, or flat copper griddles over a flame. The dish supposedly raised the soldiers’ morale and helped them win the battle. After that, jianbing guozi was passed down through the generations in Shandong and gradually spread to different parts of China. The article "Tiny Restaurant in Tianjin", the supplement of Ta Kung Pao, first appeared in modern newspapers and periodicals on November 20, 1933, and pointed out that the Jianbing was mostly sold as a midnight snack at that time . The earliest verifiable record about the method of making Tianjin Jianbing guozi from the article Gossip about Tianjin published in the third issue of Jinjin Monthly in 1942, which records that "the method uses mung beans to grind juice and spread it into pancakes, mixed with shrimp and chopped green onion, fried in a flat pan, wrapped in gizzards, or supplemented with flour paste, which is extremely sweet."

Source: Wikipedia