Xian Bing
馅饼
Xian Bing is a typical street food of northern China - a simple stuffed dough quickly pan-fried so the outside is crispy and blistered like a good pizza crust, and the inner bread is still soft. It’s often translated as ‘Chinese Meat Pie’ which is not quite right; the filling can be minced beef, but it’s equally common to find ones with egg and a vegetable known as jiucai (Chinese chives) and it’s more like a stuffed bread or pancake to me.
I don’t make these too often as almost every street corner in Beijing sells them. However, during the longer holidays - Spring Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival - we sometimes end up mixing a quick dough and frying up a few for lunch. Despite shallow-frying, these little pancakes are not at all oily.
Makes 10 pancakes.
Ingredients
For the Dough
300g of flour
pinch of salt
120ml hot water
60ml cold water
1 tablespoon oil
For the Filling
100g ground beef
100g ground pork
2 scallions/green onions, chopped
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1.5 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper (or white pepper)
Method
For the dough:
1. In a mixing bowl, add the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the hot water. Using chopsticks, mix the water into the flour. One the hot water is absorbed into the flour, add the cold water and oil, then knead the dough until it becomes smooth (a good 5 minutes). Add a bit more water if the dough is too dry. Cover with a towel and let the dough sit for an hour or so (the longer the better).
Meanwhile:
2. In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients for the filling and mix together. You want a nice sticky meat paste, so mix until all the liquid has been absorbed by the meat. If the mix feels dry add 2 tablespoons of water and see if that helps.
Back to the dough:
3. Flour a surface, then roll the dough into a log just over an inch wide. Cut the log into 10 equal pieces.
4. Roll each piece into a thin, 6 inch disc. Ideally, you want the edges to be thinner than the centre.
5. Place about 3-4 tablespoons of the filling into the centre of the disc, and then pull up the sides, pinch them together, then twist and pull off any excess dough.
6. Put the xian bing rough side down on a surface and press lightly until it becomes less of a ball and more of a flat saucer. Repeat until all the filling is used up.
Frying:
6. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Place 3 or 4 xian bing, rough (seam) side down in the hot pan and fry until their golden and crispy. Flip and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes. Put the lid on the pan and keep cooking for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside, whilst you cook the rest.
