Recipe: irresistible Chinese burgers
Long before Americans got their hands on them, people in China’s Shaanxi province were already making burgers on practically every street corner. La zhi rou jia mo, as this dish is officially called, loosely translates as ‘pork with very special gravy in a bun’. Not in the form of a burger between a patty bun, but tender chunks of braised pork belly in a rich sauce on a bun that is best compared to pita bread.
How to make the Chinese burgers
- For the filling, cut the pork belly into large pieces and distribute them over a large pan. Fill the pan with water until the meat is just covered and bring everything to the boil. Cook the meat for approx. 10 minutes until done. Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and rinse under cold running water.
- Bring 750 ml water with the cooking wine, sugar, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, bay leaf, soy sauce, ginger, galangal, spring onion and red chilli to the boil in a pan with a sturdy base. Return the pork belly to the pan and braise the meat over low heat for 90–120 minutes until buttery tender and soft. The meat is ready when you can easily pull it apart with a fork. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile, for the buns, sift the flour into a large bowl and mix in the yeast and salt. Add 240 ml warm water and mix with a hand mixer fitted with dough hooks until a cohesive dough forms. Knead the dough firmly by hand on a floured work surface for approx. 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a floured bowl and dust with a little flour. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for approx. 45 minutes. Knead the dough again and divide it into 10 equal balls. Leave to rest covered for another approx. 10 minutes.
- Roll out the dough into circles approx. 5 millimetres thick. Heat a heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium and fry 2 buns at a time, covered, for approx. 2 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining buns. Leave the buns to cool briefly on a wire rack.
- Remove the pork belly from the sauce with a slotted spoon and cut it into smaller pieces if necessary. Strain the sauce and reduce it by half in approx. 5 minutes. Mix three-quarters of the coriander and some of the sauce into the meat. Cut the buns halfway open and fill with the pork belly. Garnish with the remaining coriander and the green pepper and serve immediately.
Tip
If you have enough time, make the braised pork belly a day in advance. This gives the meat plenty of time to absorb the sauce’s rich flavours. Do you have any meat left after eating these Chinese burgers? It’s delicious the next day with some cooked white rice and slices of cucumber.
Wine tip
These irresistible buns are rich in flavour, so the wine you choose to accompany them needs to be able to stand up to that. Don’t go for an easy-drinking quaffer, but choose a wine with body. The Yalumba Samuel’s Collection Grenache-Shiraz-Mataro is such a wine. Juicy, approachable (but with depth) and aromatic; a whole fruit shop passes by, from blueberries to cinnamon. The oak from the barrels in which the wine matured is beautifully integrated and never overpowering. Delicious! We’re happy to overlook those red teeth.
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