I saw this recipe posted in Lily’s Wai Sek Hong, where she got it from this Chinese cooking video. The pastries (from Lily and the video) looks so good that I gave it a try. Indeed, it’s very delicious and peppery.
I have never had one before so I don’t know what is the original authentic taste, but I like my version except it’s a little sweet, next time I will cut down the sugar. If you understand Mandarin and some Hockien, check out the video as the cook shares some tips. Also, the cook uses more white pepper and soy sauce paste than the recipe calls for. When making the yeasted dough, the cook mixes yeast with the flour before adding water– I followed this approach but found out that the yeast does not completely dissolve into the dough. I should have dissolve the yeast in the water instead of adding it to the flour.
Peppery Pork Pastry Recipe (makes 10 pieces)
Ingredients:
Filling:
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 ground pork belly
5 tbsp soy sauce paste
3 tbsp ground white pepper– toast in dry clean wok on low heat until aromatic, let cool
3 tbsp sugar— should cut down to 2 tbsp next time
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp five-spice powder
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp water
2 cups chopped green onions
Yeasted dough:
2 cups AP flour
1/2 tsp yeast
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1 tsp oil
Oil dough:
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 cup shortening or lard
1/2 cup roasted sesame seeds
1/3 cup brown sugar syrup (dissolve sugar in 1/3 cup water then cool)
Method:
- Combine two ground meat. Add in soy sauce paste, white pepper, sugar, salt, five-spice powder, sesame oil and water. Use chopsticks to stir in circular motion until all seasoning combined and the meat is “sticky”. Chill for 2-3 hours or overnight. Then divide into 10 portions.
- Prepare yeasted dough: Combine flour and salt. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup water then gradually pour into flour mixture. Add in remaining water if dough is too dry, a little at a time. When the dough forms a ball, drizzle in oil and hand knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Rest dough in a bowl, cover and let it rise until double in size. Knead a few times to push out air pockets. Divide into 10 portions and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Prepare oil dough: Combine shortening with flour and knead to form a dough. Divide into 10 portions.
- Roll out 1 piece of yeasted dough, wrap in 1 piece of oil dough tightly to seal. Roll out to a long oval shape, then roll up like a swiss roll. Turn 90° and roll out to a long oval shape and then roll up like a swiss roll again. Repeat with the remaining doughs. Rest the roll up dough for 15 minutes.
- Take 1 piece of dough, press index finger in the middle of the dough, then use thumb and middle finger to pinch the two long ends together so the dough is roughly round shape. Roll out to a thin circle. Wrap in 1 portion of ground pork and top with 2-3 tbsp of green onion. Pinch the edge of dough to seal tightly with seal side facing down. Repeat with the remaining doughs and filling.
- Dip the top of the wrapped pastries with brown sugar syrup then dip into roasted sesame seeds to cover the top. Place pastries on a greased baking pan and rest for 20-30 minutes. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 20-30 minutes. Open the oven door slightly after first 10 minutes so the pastries crisp better (thanks to Lily for this tip!). Cool on a rack.
ha! I did it! So happy – and so pleased with the results of my peppery pork pastry. – my husband is so impressed and pleased that he wants to save them to take to the family on Sunday (we get together with his family on Sundays) – His brother in law makes theses from time to time and I never could figure out what and how to make them – and I’m a baker. – Now I not only understand the process, but able to do it too. So much fun. …. and I like them so much, I don’t know if they’ll make it until Saturday.
I love the tips like “toasting” the white pepper, and how to mix the 2 doughs. … my only question is regarding the oil dough. Mine was much more a “paste” than what I would consider a “dough”. Is that right, or did I miss something? – The pastry isn’t as light as I would like, but that was partially because I was impatient and didn’t give the yeast dough the time and attention I needed too – tried to rush it to get to the end product.
Anyway – thank you – thank you!
Judy,
I am glad your peppery pork pastry turned out good!
About your oil dough, it should feel like soft dough, not paste. When you use lard or shortening, be sure the fat is cool. As you know fat starts to melt and more liquidty when it gets warm, and that might affect the consistency of your oil dough. But then, flour plays a role too. I found out different batch of flour has different level of absorption, even during different season… that’s the touching and eye balling part of cooking. 🙂 oh, be sure not to overknead your yeasted dough in the first place, and give it ample of time rest so it’s not dense.
You know, now you know how to make the layered pastry dough, you can make different pastry patterns (spiral, stripe, hidden layers- with opening on top or bottom, half-moon layered…). The principle is the same– same rolling-twice approach. The only difference is how you cut the pastry dough at last stage, and how you wrap the dough after filling. I love layered pastry as it has different patterns to play with, but the rolling part is work.:-/
Enjoy baking/cooking!
Regina