Rou Jia Mo, (肉夹馍) Chinese Pork Burger

Rou Jia Mo literately means "meat sandwiched in bread" is a street food originating from the cuisine of Shaanxi Province and widely consumed all over China. 

A humble street food can be as memorable as fancy restaurant meal. 

First of all, let's talk about the filling. Depends on your dietary, you can make the filling with pork or if you are a vegan, use jackfruit or soy minced instead. I like to use pulled pork for the filling or pulled jackfruit. If you are too lazy to make it yourself, get the ready marinated from supermarket. 

INGREDIENTS

For the meat:

• 2 pound pork belly
• 3 cups water
• ¼ cup Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 4 spring onions, cut in half
• 3 slices ginger
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 slices galangal
• 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn
• 3 bay leaves
• salt to taste
• 1 cup chopped coriander

For the buns:

• 450g plain flour
• 8g active dry yeast
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1-1¼ cups warm water, depending on humidity

Method:

Keep the pork belly whole or cut into large chunks. Place the pork belly in a medium pot, and fill it with just enough water to cover it. Bring the water to a boil. Once the pork has gone opaque and appears cooked on the outside, turn off the heat, remove the pork from the pot, and rinse it clean under running water. Pour away the water and clean the pot.

Put the pork belly back into the clean pot, and add 3 cups of water, Shaoxing wine, sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, spring onions, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, galangal, Sichuan peppercorn and bay leaves. Bring everything to a boil, then immediately turn down the heat to low and simmer for 90 minutes to 2 hours, until fork tender. To test it, stick a fork into the meat. It's done if you can pull the fork out easily. Do not use high heat when simmering to avoid drying out the sauce. Add salt to taste.

While the pork is simmering, make the buns. To a mixing bowl, add the flour, yeast and salt. Slowly add the warm water, mixing and kneading until it forms a smooth dough ball. Once a dough ball is formed, knead it for another 10 minutes to build up the gluten in the dough (this will make the buns chewier). You can also use an electric mixer with dough hook attachment for this. The dough should feel soft and easy to work with. Cover the dough, and let it proof at room temperature for about an hour until it doubles in size.

After proofing, knead the dough for about 5 minutes to get rid of any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Cover the dough balls with a kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out while you are shaping the buns.

To shape the buns, take each ball and roll it out into cigar-like shape.

Next, roll it out into a longer and narrower strip, and fold it in half lengthwise. 

Roll it up into a bundle, with the loose end tucked underneath.

Turn it on its side, so that the swirls are facing up.

                                                  

Press it down with your palm. 

Now roll it out into a disc about 4 inches in diameter. Repeat these steps for all of the dough balls. Cover the shaped buns with a dry kitchen towel, and let rest for 20 minutes before cooking.

Pre-heat a flat-bottomed pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Place the buns in the pan about an inch a part (no oil is necessary). Cover the lid, and let the buns cook for 2 minutes on each side. The heat shouldn't be too high, or your buns may burn. After 2 minutes on each side, remove the lid, and cook each side for another minute or so until entire bun is golden brown. Continue in batches until the buns are all cooked

To serve, take out the pork, coarsely chop it and transfer it into a bowl. Mix in the chopped coriander and add the sauce from the meat to your desired consistency. Toss everything together.

Slice open a bun, load the meat inside..... And it's time to sink your teeth into this scrumptious little bundle of porky goodness.
 

**for vegan version, you can replace the pork with pull jackfruit