Run Bing (Taiwanese Spring Roll) is like the Taiwanese version of a burrito! It’s got many delicious tasty ingredients such as meat and veggies and usually also grounded peanuts wrapped in a thin soft crepe.

What is Run Bing?

Run Bing (aka 潤餅, Taiwanese Spring Roll, or Popiah) is a made with a thin crepe like wrapper that is filled with a various ingredients that can include vegetables, meat, and seafood.

Here are some common fillings:

• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Bean sprouts
• Cucumber
• Peanuts
• Dried Shrimp
• Pork
• Eggs

The fillings are usually stir fried or cooked separately prior to being added to the wrapper. Then the wrappers is rolled up similar to a burrito, and can be served with a dipping sauce.

Taiwanese Run Bing can be found as a street food, and served as a snack or meal any time of the year. However, it is very popular during Qingming Festival (aka 清明節, Tomb Sweeping Day), which is a traditional Chinese holiday where people honor the dead.

This year we made it right around Qingming Festival!

How to make Run Bing (Taiwanese Spring Roll) Traditionally

Traditionally all the ingredients are cooked separately, and if you are entertaining, I do recommend doing it this way even though it would be more time consuming. This is because then everyone can select what they want in their run bing.

Of course there are still some things you can cook together. Here’s how we did it.

Fillings

There’s lots of various fillings you can use.

I recommend shredding or cutting everything in to strips tho so that it is easier for wrapping purposes! For example:

Taiwanese sausage

Taiwanese sausage is made with pork, rice wine, and spices, and is typically grilled or smoked. Taiwanese sausage has a unique flavor that is a combination of sweet, savory, and maybe even a little spicy. We love serving this as a side, or stir frying it in noodles or fried rice.

To prepare Taiwanese sausage, heat up a skillet and allow it to pan fry a couple of minutes, rotating it for even cooking until well done.

Then when it cools, slice it diagonally.

Cabbage

We use Taiwanese cabbage for this, it’s similar to regular green cabbage, but it is flat and more tender so it takes less time to cook until tender – which is what we are doing.

The easiest way is just to cut the cabbage in to shreds, and then stir fry until tender.

However you can also add dried shrimp and then stir fry cabbage in to it, or stir fry the cabbage and then add shiitake mushrooms – or both like we did!

The trick though at the end you do want to make sure to drain the liquid out of it. This is so it’s not wet when you wrap it.

We used a colander.

Dougan (Dried Tofu)

Dougan aka 豆乾 directly translate to ‘bean dried’ and it is a type of firm tofu. It’s commonly used in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine.

It is made from soybeans and flavored with salt, soy sauce, and many other spices commonly cinnamon, star anise, licorice and more.

Though Dougan is a type of firm tofu, I don’t really advice substituting dougan with tofu or vice versa. This is because the texture and the flavor is quite different. Not saying it will be bad, but it really won’t be the same.

We simply stir fry this until it is hot, and that’s all you need to do.

Carrots

You will first want to shred the carrots. Then heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add carrots, and allow to cook, stirring occasionally until softened, which is about 5 minutes (depending on how much you have). We added shiitake mushrooms in ours but that is optional.

Bean Sprouts

Bean Sprouts 豆芽, or mung bean sprouts, is a vegetable that is grown by sprouting mung beans. This vegetable is very popular and consumed in East and Southeast Asian.

Bean sprouts are very easy to grow, they mostly just need to be in the shade and in water, so they’re also often used in schools for science projects!

If you’ve never had it before and are wondering what they taste like, bean sprouts have a very mild taste – when it’s added to dishes it doesn’t take over any other flavors, but it does add a juicy crunch!

To prepare, rinse the bean sprouts in cold water and drain.

Then, heat cooking oil in a large wok or skillet over medium heat. Allow bean sprouts to cook, stirring occasionally or until softened which is about 2 minutes.

Then, you want to drain this completely. We want it as dry as possible so it doesn’t end up making our spring rolls all wet when we wrap it.

So we put it in this colander like this:

Final product:

Eggs

In a bowl, whisk together eggs and add a little bit water. Heat cooking oil in skillet over medium heat, and then pour beaten eggs in to the skillet and cover. Allow it to cook for 30 seconds undisturbed. Then, using a spatulate, gently lift starting from the edges of the eggs and flip to the other side. Allow to cook for another 30 seconds or until the egg is no longer runny.

Remove from heat and slice the sheet of eggs in to thin slices.

Pork

For this one, any sliced pork that is cooked thoroughly should work. We actually end up using leftovers! But if you want to start from scratch here is an easy one: Pan Fried Pork Belly – this is so easy, and all you will want to do differently is at the end cut in to strips instead of slices.

Preserved Daikon Radish

Rinse the preserved radish in water. Preserved radish can be pretty salty so this helps get rid of some of the saltiness.

Then, stir fry in a wok or skillet for about 2 minute, and then remove from heat.

Green Onions

Slice green onions in to diagonal long strips. Then you can either serve raw, or you can stir fry it like we did.

Condiments

Powdered sugar is one of the ingredients you do not need to prepare.

Ground Peanut (or Peanut Powder) is something you can buy store bought, but if you can’t find any you can also grind some peanuts yourself.

You can also dip it in some sauce! If that’s what you prefer, you can buy some hoisin sauce to dip your run bing in, or add it straight in to the filling.

Wrapper

For the wrapping, you have two options – You can either make your own or you can buy store bought!

Here’s a recipe for making your own wrapper: Taiwanese Spring Roll Wrapper

And if you are looking for some store bought ones, you can usually find them in your local Asian grocery stores. Sometimes you may be able to find them online too! Such as this one by Wei Chuan. Though the picture has it fried, you can also steam it to make Run Bing. The directions should be on that package.

One thing to note is when you make them yourselves they will be circular, and when you buy them they could be either round or square – it doesn’t really matter the shape as you will assemble and wrap it the same way.

Assembling everything

Once everything is prepared, you can set up the table with all the filling ingredients, sauces, and steamed Run Bing.

Here’s how to assemble a Taiwanese Spring Roll:

First, lay the wrapper on a large plate of chopping board.

If you want to add sauces, this is the time to use a spoon and smear it on the middle of the wrapper. Then start adding various fillings in the middle of the wrapper.

Sprinkle ground peanuts and powdered sugar at the end.

Bring two opposite sides of the wrapper to the middle and then fold the bottom layer and start rolling it in to a burrito / spring roll shape.

Now you can cut it in half or serve as is!

How to make Run Bing (Taiwanese Spring Roll) Quickly

If you did want to make Run Bing / Taiwanese Spring Roll quickly than stir fry so many things separately, you could stir fry everything together.

You will lose some of the spark if you are entertaining as it won’t be like a ‘run bing station’ where people can choose their ingredients, and you would just be saying everyone gets the same thing.

However, if you are just craving some run bing this is the route to go!

First, gather your ingredients:

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 cup dougan (dried tofu)
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 cup rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• Salt, to taste
• Run bing wrappers, softened and warmed (we steam it)
• Powdered sugar (optional)
• Ground peanuts (optional)
• Hoisin sauce (optional)

In a wok or skillet, heat cooking oil on medium high heat.

Add cabbage and carrots in to wok and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes, and then add bean sprouts, dougan and shiitake mushrooms.

Stir fry to mix well, and then cover for 1-2 minutes. Uncover and continue to stir fry until cooked thoroughly. Add salt to taste.

Lay a wrapper on a large plate of chopping board.

If you want to add sauces, this is the time to use a spoon and smear it on the middle of the wrapper. Then start adding various fillings in the middle of the wrapper.

Sprinkle ground peanuts and powdered sugar at the end.

Bring two opposite sides of the wrapper to the middle and then fold the bottom layer and start rolling it in to a burrito / spring roll shape.

Serve!

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