Meat Pancakes | 肉饼

in

Dough:

  • 3 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting work surface
  • 1 cup or so water

Meat filling:

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons ginger
  • 3 bunches green onions
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon or so salt 

Dipping sauce:

  • Black vinegar

White Boyfriend dipping sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon-ish sweet chili sauce
  • 1 tablespoon-ish soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon-ish sriracha 

Heat up water in microwave until almost too hot to the touch. Measure out flour into a large mixing bowl. Pour 3/4 of the water slowly in while stirring w/ chopsticks. You should have a partly dry and wet mixture of flour. Start kneading with your hands until you form a soft dough. If it seems dry, add more water. If it seems wet, add more flour. Eventually you will have a nice, uniform dough ball. Cover and set aside for 30 min. 

In the meantime, work on your filling. Before I had a food processor, this was a painstaking process. Now I just cut the ends off the green onions, chop them into 3 inch segments, and throw them into the food processor with the ginger. Pulse the ginger and green onions until well chopped, but don't pulverize them into mush. If you don't have a food processor you can do it the old-fashioned way. Be sure you mince the ginger and finely chop the green onions. Your arm will probably hurt afterwards. 

Combine pork, green onion/ginger mixture, and one egg in medium, metal mixing bowl. Use chopsticks and stir vigorously until mixture sticks together and is well-combined. Add oils, soy sauce, and salt. You may need a little more salt, so use the taste and spit technique to season properly. Set the filling aside.

Go back to the dough and knead a few times. Cut off a piece about 1/5 of the entire piece and knead this smaller dough a few times before rolling out onto a lightly floured surface. Your rolled-out dough will resemble a pizza crust awaiting toppings (aka a big circle). Using a small knife, cut a line from the center of the dough circle to the outer edge (aka the radius). Spread the filling about a 1/2 inch from the edges of the circle. Carefully, roll the dough from one radius edge around to the other and pinch off all edges. What you should have now is a dough cone (see steps 1-4, pictured). Let dough cone rest for 10 minutes.

During this time, preheat a large, heavy cast iron skillet with a lid. Repeat with rest of dough and filling. You should basically have an assembly line where while one dough cone rests, another should be rolled out in preparation for the pan. To roll out the dough cone, press down on the top with the palm of your hand. Roll out slowly on a lightly floured surface, rotating every few seconds so that the filling is evenly distributing inside.

Heat oil in preheated pan on medium. Slide the flat meat pancake into the skillet. Cover immediately. Check after a couple of minutes. If your pancake is already turning dark on the bottom your pan is too hot. The pancake must cook slowly and evenly to a golden brown. This ensures that the inside will not be raw while the outside is overcooked. Continue monitoring, rotating and flipping as needed, but keeping the pancake covered as much as possible so that the inside will steam properly.

Once you get the hang of it you should only need to rotate three times and flip twice. Remove from heat and serve with black vinegar. Or, if you prefer, White Boyfriend was nice enough to share his secret sauce recipe of sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, and sriracha.

Did any part of this recipe confuse you? For detailed instructions, click here.