Flatbreads & Griddle · Chinese home cooking
Carrot and Spinach Egg Pancake
Finely shredded carrot and wilted spinach are folded into an egg-and-flour batter, then pan-fried as one thick, tender round with crisp, freckled edges and a soft green-flecked centre.
About this dish
Spinach goes dark and limp the moment it meets a warm pan, so it is worth wilting it separately before it ever reaches the batter. The carrot keeps its crunch longer and leaves fine orange threads through the pale egg. As the cake sets, the kitchen fills with a quiet, buttery smell and the surface loses its gloss one patch at a time. Cut into wedges, the inside should look softly layered rather than uniformly beige, with green and orange visible in every slice.
Before you start
Equipment: Skillet. Tap the ingredient checkboxes as you go.
Method
6 steps · tick each one off as you finish it.
Wilt the spinach
Warm a skillet over medium heat for 1 minute, add 100 g spinach and 1 tbsp water, toss for 90 seconds. Take the pan off the heat; it is ready when the leaves collapse into a dark heap and no water pools at the base.
Cool and squeeze
Spread the wilted spinach on a plate and let it cool off the heat for 3 minutes, then squeeze about 2 tbsp liquid with a spoon. It is done when the greens hold together in a firm, dry clump rather than smearing across your fingers.
Build the batter
Whisk 180 g egg with 60 ml milk, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp white pepper off the heat for 1 minute; beat in 90 g flour until smooth. Fold in 120 g carrot, spinach and 15 g scallions; ready when no flour streaks remain.
Start the pancake
Heat a 24 cm skillet over medium-low heat for 2 minutes with 1 tbsp oil and 1 tsp sesame oil. Pour in all the batter and spread it flat; it is ready when the edge sets within 1 minute while the centre still looks glossy.
Cover and set the centre
Cover the skillet, lower the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes without lifting the lid. Wait until the top turns from wet and shiny to matte and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
Brown the underside and serve
Uncover, raise the heat to medium and fry for 2 minutes more, shaking the pan once, until the base sounds hollow when tapped. Slide onto a board, cut into 6 wedges and serve with 1 tbsp soy sauce while the edges are still crisp.
Tips that matter
- Squeezing the wilted spinach is not optional; even 1 extra tbsp of water will make the centre gummy and slow the setting by several minutes.
- A lid is what cooks the thick middle without burning the bottom, so resist flipping this pancake; it is designed to brown on one side only.
Easy variations
- Swap the spinach for 100 g finely chopped kale, wilted for 2 minutes longer before squeezing.
- Stir 40 g grated sharp cheddar into the batter just before pouring for a richer, stretchier wedge.
Questions that come up
Can I use frozen spinach?
Yes, but thaw 150 g first and squeeze it very hard; frozen spinach holds far more water, so add 1 extra tbsp flour to keep the centre firm.
The middle is still raw but the bottom is dark. What went wrong?
The heat was too high. Drop to low, cover again for 3 minutes, and next time preheat the skillet for the full 2 minutes before adding the batter.
Nutrition, roughly
| Energy | 290 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 16 g |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
Estimated per serving from standard ingredients, rounded. Treat it as a guide, not clinical data.
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