NZ Adventures - fuel for the flight

NZ Adventures - fuel for the flight
Home Cooking



It's a sad fact of life but as I grew up and started working/living by myself/doing my own thing, there's been less and less time for family trips. We pulled together for our Shanghai trip September last year that dad kept hailing as 'our last family trip ever' but my parents and I are VERY close so when I found out they were going to New Zealand in the Easter break, I decided I'd join.




Dad's a worry wort (this trait has unfortunately passed on to me) and he couldn't sleep for several nights leading up to departure because of how meticulously everything was planned. Let me give you a few examples...

• They had a last minute check list that was typed up and printed out
• There was a black plastic sleeve folder with all the 'important paperwork' printed out and sorted into sections, with accompanying plastic tabs labeling the sections
• A detailed itinerary was compiled in a table form describing who was responsible for each meal

According to the itinerary, Mum was supposed to provide light lunch for our plane trip. We started making it in the morning.

Tick the list

Inspired by hawker food from the streets of Shanghai, mum wanted to recreate the egg and pancake wrap (colloquially known to the Shanghainese as 'rag that wraps up feet').


On the streets, the vendor would pour some batter onto a hot oil drum surface and roll it around to create a thin crepe. An egg is then smashed onto the crepe and spread out. Once cooked, this is then coated with sweet bean sauce, chopped shallots, pickles and usually filled with either oily breadstick or a bit of pork crackling (my favourite!)

Mum tried to make it with supermarket spring onion pancake (the type that comes frozen in a packet) but the pancake was too thick so when she cracked an egg onto it, the egg didn't cook. Result = mess.


Instead, we took the original street product and put our own spin on it. Dad fried some omelet separately and we used that as filling.

First, lay out the cooked pancake. Spread on some sweet bean sauce.


Place omelet on top and sprinkle on some pork floss or whatever other filling you like.

Wrap tightly until it needs to be served.

We made one roll per person and these were stored away until lunch time en route to Dunedin.

Though the pancake rolls were cold by then, they were still quite yummy and much better (IMO) than the $5 instant noodles or whatever ridiculous price it is for airplane food.

Upon landing, first thing I noticed was cows by the terminal