Rou jia mo pork sandwiches

Your ingredients

Get ready: Bowl, rolling pin, lidded saucepan, lidded frying pan, knife and thermometer.

• 🍚Dough: 250 g plain flour
• 💧Dough: 120 ml water, adjusted slightly as needed
• 🥣Dough: 1 tsp fast-action yeast
• 🍯Dough: 1 tsp sugar
• 🥣Dough: 1 tsp neutral oil
• 🥩Pork: 450 g pork belly
• 🥩Pork: 5 slices ginger
• 🥩Pork: 2 spring onions, cut into lengths
• 🥩Pork: 1 star anise, 1 bay leaf and 1 small cinnamon stick
• 🥩Pork: ¼ tsp fennel seeds and ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 🥩Pork: 2 cloves, optional
• 🥩Pork: dried chilli, to taste
• 🥩Pork: 1 tbsp light soy sauce and ½ tbsp dark soy sauce
• 🥩Pork: 1 tbsp unsalted stock, instead of cooking wine
• 🥩Pork: ½ tbsp sugar and ½ tsp salt
• 🥩Water, enough to cover the pork
• 🌶️Fresh coriander and chilli, to taste, optional

Let’s make it

1. Make and rise the dough

   Mix flour, water, yeast, sugar and dough oil. Knead into a smooth, firm dough. Cover and leave until doubled, around 40–90 minutes.

2. Braise the pork

   Briefly blanch pork in boiling water and drain. Put in a saucepan with ginger, spring onions, spices, soy sauces, stock in place of wine, sugar and salt. Cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer for at least 1 hour until tender and fully cooked.

3. Shape four breads

   Divide risen dough into four. Roll each into a long oval, roll up into a cylinder, stand on one end and flatten into a disc about 10 cm across.

4. Cook in the pan

   Put discs in a heavy pan over low heat, without oil. Cover and cook until golden underneath, then turn and cook the other side. Allow about 10 minutes total, longer until the centre has no raw dough.

5. Chop the filling

   Remove whole spices from the pork. Chop meat with optional coriander and chilli and mix with a little hot braising liquid.

6. Fill and serve

   When breads are cool enough to handle, cut a pocket from one side without cutting through. Fill with hot pork and serve immediately.