Flatbreads · FFET10185
Jiucai Hezi (chive box)
A half-moon pocket of dough filled with chives and usually egg, pan-fried golden on both sides and common in the north.
A plain round white porcelain plate holds half-moon dough pockets pan-fried golden on both sides, with green Chinese chives and yellow egg visible in the filling, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
Shaobing, griddle bread, guokui, naan, spring pancakes and other wheat flatbreads.
Jiucai hezi is a half-moon pocket of dough stuffed with chopped chives and usually egg, then pan-fried or dry-griddled until golden on both sides. It is common across northern China and parts of the south, and it is Taiwanese street food. A pork-and-chive pie existed in the Ming, and the name hezi appears in Qing cookbooks; these accounts come from a March 2, 2024 popular food-history excerpt whose Ming quotation lacks a source, so it is not treated as a dated record.
What
Jiucai hezi is a half-moon pocket of dough wrapped around chopped chives, often with egg, and pan-fried or dry-griddled until golden on both sides. Fillings may also include pork, vermicelli and dried tofu.1,2
When
A pork-and-chive pie in thin dough existed in the Ming. The Qing author Zhu Yizun's Shixian Hongmi lists a chive pie called hezi by northerners; Yuan Mei's Suiyuan Shidan describes chives and meat wrapped in dough and fried. These accounts come from a March 2, 2024 excerpt from a popular food-history book, which places Suiyuan Shidan in the Qianlong era; the Ming quotation lacks a source and the original book texts were not found, so these remain secondhand accounts.3
Where
Jiucai hezi is common across northern China and parts of the south, and it is Taiwanese street food. It is a popular treat from northern China. The claim placing it in Shandong lacks a source and is not relied on here.1,2,4,5
How
One method scrambles eggs, mixes them with chopped chives and dried shrimp, folds the filling into spring roll wrappers, and pan-fries each side for 2 to 3 minutes before crisping. Another uses hand-rolled dough made with hot and cold water, filled with chives and egg and fried in 1 tablespoon of oil per pocket.4,5
Impact and influence
On February 14, 2022, freestyle skier Eileen Gu was seen eating a pastry at the Beijing Winter Olympics, later confirmed to be a chive pocket. The accounts cite an official Olympics report, but that report was not consulted directly.1,2
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is chive and egg pockets as I make them at home, a simplified home version: I make the dough myself and put just chives and egg in the filling, with no shrimp. The dough and amounts mainly follow one recipe by a named author, which makes a hand-rolled hot-and-cold-water dough pocket, does not call it jiucai hezi, and adds five-spice powder. Another recipe by a named author uses store-bought spring roll wrappers and dried shrimp in the filling, and I did not follow it. The frying heat and timing are my own, as explained below.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour 2 1/3 cups (a cup here is a 240 ml measuring cup)
- Salt, for the dough 1.5 teaspoons
- Five-spice powder 1/2 teaspoon
- Boiling water 1/2 cup (about 120 ml)
- Room-temperature water 1/2 cup (about 120 ml)
- Chinese chives about 3 cups, chopped
- Eggs 4
- Cooking oil, for scrambling the eggs 1 tablespoon; this amount is my own choice
- Sesame oil 1 teaspoon, for the filling; this amount is my own choice
- Salt, for the filling a little; this amount is my own choice
- Cooking oil, for frying 4 tablespoons, 1 tablespoon for each pocket
Steps
- Mix the flour, 1.5 teaspoons of salt and the five-spice powder, stir in the half cup of boiling water with chopsticks, then add the half cup of room-temperature water and bring it together into a dough.
- Knead for about 8 minutes, then cover and rest it for 30 minutes (both times follow that recipe).
- Beat the eggs, scramble them in 1 tablespoon of oil until cooked through, and let them cool. Wash the chives, dry them well and chop them.
- Mix the scrambled egg, chives, sesame oil and a little salt, and taste a bit for seasoning. Do this right before filling, so the chives do not release water.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll each into a round about 28 to 30 cm across, as in that recipe.
- Put about a quarter of the filling on one half of each round, fold the other half over it, and pinch and press the edge shut.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a flat pan over medium heat, put one pocket in, and fry until golden on each side, about 3 to 4 minutes a side, taking care when turning because the oil spatters. Fry the rest one at a time, with 1 tablespoon of oil each.
- Before taking it out, press it with a finger: it is ready when both sides feel firm and the dough has no soft, raw feel. The egg in the filling is already cooked, so I judge mainly by the dough.
Tips
- I keep the heat moderate, because a pocket that scorches outside can still be raw dough inside; I would rather go slowly, and this is my own way.
- I always dry the chives before chopping and mix the filling just before filling, so it does not turn watery; this is my own habit.
Allergens: egg, wheat, sesame