如意的餡餅 Ruyi's Xian'bing

Xian'bing 餡餅 is a Northern Chinese snack which is eaten like the way sandwiches are eaten with one's hands.  They are normally round, like an aloo paratha and the wrapper is gathered and then tugged into the xian'bing and therefore in a small part of a xing'bing, there is a little excess dough, which I do not like.

So, I redesign my own xian'bing and thus I name it as Ruyi's Xian'bing 如意的餡餅 which solves this problem.  

I make a half moon shape xian'bing and gather the sides together like a kali'su 咖哩酥.  

First the wrapper recipe:

300 grams strong flour 
1.5 tsp salt - I use Hilmalayan salt
1.5 tsp sugar - optional - I add this to aid browning of the wrapper
60 grams vegetable oil
180 grams boiling water

Mix the above together and knead it into a dough without burning your fingers / hand with the hot boiling water.  Allow the dough to rest for at least an hour. I normally leave the dough to rest for a few hours before use. 

This will make 10 [ten] xian'bing.

Filling: The ingredients below can make more than 30 xian'bing. 

450 grams of Aberdeen Angus mince beef - I bought this from Waitrose and in my humble opinion, this slow growing, grass eating cattle gives one of the best tasting beef in the UK and the other very good beef is Hereford beef

5 leaves of napa cabbage, more commonly known as Chinese leaves in English supermarkets - finely sliced - add one teaspoon salt to the sliced cabbage and mix well and allow to stand.  This will draw water from the cabbage.  The Chinese would dispose of the water, but I do not,

1 inch ginger - peeled, finely julienned, and then finely diced

organic spring onions - one bunch - finely slice only the green part - you can use the white part for other things.  Some people like using the white part and if you do, then use only half a bunch.

100 grams coriander leaves - finely sliced

and the following seasoning:-

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil - you can use vegetable oil instead 
2 tbsp sesame oil - I use a Singaporean sesame oil made by ZhiCheng 志成 [CheeSeng in Singapore PinYin]
2 tbsp Jinlan 金蘭 Golden Orchid soya sauce - I like this Taiwanese soya sauce because it is not salty and it has a wonderful taste - if you use other soya sauce then you need to use less soya sauce or the xian'bing will be too salty
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine 紹興酒

Mix all the above ingredients together to form the filling and allow it to rest and marinate for at least half an hour.

Roll out the wrapper dough into a long sausage and cut it into 10 equal parts and make a disc out of each part.

Fill each of these wrapper discs with a tablespoon of the filling or more if you want and wrap into little xian'bing.  You can also make this like a stuffed paratha like an aloo paratha.  

Shallow fry the xian'bing in oil, like you would do with an aloo paratha and brown on both sides.

Enjoy!