Chinese pork burger (Rou Jia Mo 肉夹馍)
A simple pan-baked flatbread stuffed with spiced pork belly, fresh coriander and chilli, Chinese pork burger is tangy, flavourful, moist and extremely comforting.
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 10 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast (see note 1)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- 1 lb pork belly
- 5 slice ginger
- 2 stalk scallions (cut into sections)
- 1 star-anise
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 piece cassia cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 2 pieces clove (optional)
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
- 4 dried chilli
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
- ½ tablespoon rock sugar (or granulated sugar)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 handful coriander
- 4 fresh chili (or to taste)
Instructions
- 1
Mix all the ingredients (including the oil). Knead with your hands or a stand mixer until a smooth, firm dough forms (see note 2).
- 2
Cover the bowl with a wet kitchen towel then leave to rise until double in size (see note 3).
- 3
Blanch the pork in hot water then drain.
- 4
Put the pork and all the other ingredients into a pot. Fill with water enough to cover the meat completely.
- 5
Bring the water to a boil. Then leave to simmer for at least 1 hour until the meat becomes very tender.
- 6
Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.
- 7
Flatten one piece of dough into a long oval shape.
- 8
Roll the dough into a cylinder. Stand the cylinder on one end.
- 9
Press it down then flatten it with a rolling pin (about 4 inches/10cm in diameter). Repeat the procedure to finish other pieces of dough
- 10
Place the dough into a frying pan over low heat (without any oil). Cover the pan with a lid.
- 11
Flip the bread over when the first side becomes golden brown.
- 12
Cook the second side with the lid on (see note 4).
- 13
When the bread is cool enough to handle, slice open from one side (do not cut through).
- 14
Chop the pork, coriander and chilli into small pieces. Pour some broth onto the chopped meat.
- 15
Stuff the bread with the filling mixture.
- 16
If you don’t wish to serve the burgers right away, you can assemble them in advance then wrap each one tight in microwave-safe cling film.
- 17
Reheat on full power for about 40 seconds in the microwave.