Why Make Lotus Root Pork Patties?

Lotus root is a classic ingredient in Chinese cooking, valued not only for its distinct crunchy texture but also for its symbolism in Chinese culture. Chinese Lotus Root and Pork Pies symbolize family unity and partnership, making them ideal for festive occasions. The mild, earthy flavor of the lotus root pairs beautifully with a savory pork filling, making this a dish you’ll want to make again and again.

What Are the Health Benefits of Lotus Root?

Lotus root is a highly nutritious root vegetable with a host of health benefits. It’s rich in dietary fiber, vitamins C and B6, and essential minerals like potassium. Low in saturated fat, it’s an ideal choice for adding heart-healthy ingredients to your meals. With benefits like improved blood circulation, reduced inflammation, and digestive health support, Asian Lotus Root Dishes are a tasty way to boost wellness.

The Significance of Lotus Root Pork Patties in Chinese Culture

In Chinese tradition, lotus root symbolizes purity and harmony, while 藕盒 (ouhe) has a double meaning, sounding similar to words for “togetherness” or “family reunion.” Families make these Lotus Root Pork Patties to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and other gatherings, honoring both cultural heritage and the joy of being together.

Key Ingredients for Homemade Lotus Root Pork Pies

How to Make Lotus Root and Pork Pies: Step-by-Step

1. Prepare the Lotus Root

• Peel and thoroughly wash the lotus root. To keep it fresh and reduce bitterness, soak it in water with a bit of vinegar.
• Clean the holes with a straw cleaner to remove any dirt or mud residue.
• Slice the lotus root into thin pieces and set them aside in lightly salted water to maintain freshness.

2. Make the Pork Filling

• Use a food processor to blend the ginger and leek until finely chopped.
• Add pork belly, corn starch, salt, soy sauce, and sugar. Blend until the ingredients are well mixed. If you don’t have a food processor, you can finely chop the ingredients by hand and use minced pork with 20% fat for a similar texture.

3. Prepare the Batter

• In a mixing bowl, combine plain flour, corn starch, a pinch of salt, egg, optional five spice powder, and water (or beer for added crispiness). Add 2 tsp of oil, stirring until the batter is smooth but not too thick.

4. Assemble the Chinese Pork Patties with Lotus Root

• Take two slices of lotus root and spread a thin layer of the pork mixture on one slice.
• Place the other slice on top to form a “sandwich,” pressing firmly to seal. Repeat with remaining slices.

5. Cook the Lotus Root Pork Patties

• Heat a grill pan or skillet to medium-high, coating it with a thin layer of oil.
• Dip each lotus root sandwich into the batter, ensuring a thin, even coating.
• Place the patties in the pan, cooking until golden brown on one side before flipping to cook the other, making sure the pork filling is fully cooked.

6. Serve and Enjoy!

• Drain excess oil using a paper towel. Serve warm with sweet chili sauce or ketchup for dipping.

These Homemade Lotus Root Pies are perfect as a main dish alongside a simple side salad or as a delicious appetizer for sharing.

Tips for Buying and Storing Lotus Root

• Choosing Fresh Lotus Root: Look for light brown lotus root at Asian markets. It should be firm and free of blemishes for the best flavor.
• Storage: Keep fresh lotus root in the refrigerator and use within a few days to maintain quality.
• Cleaning Thoroughly: Lotus root has a unique hollow structure, so clean each hole carefully to remove any debris.

Why You’ll Love This Lotus Root and Minced Pork Pies Recipe

1. Unique Texture and Flavor: The combination of crisp lotus root and juicy pork filling makes these Crispy Pork and Lotus Root Patties a treat for the taste buds.
2. Nutritious and Filling: Lotus root is low in calories but rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, adding a healthy boost to your meal.
3. A Festive, Traditional Dish: Perfect for celebrations and family gatherings, these Chinese Dim Sum Style Pies are a great way to share the warmth and joy of Chinese culture.

Make these Savory Pork and Lotus Root Pies part of your next meal for a deliciously unique dish that honors tradition and satisfies your taste buds. Serve it with your favorite dipping sauce, and as we say in Chinese, 用餐愉快 (yòng cān yú kuài) – enjoy your meal!

Lotus Root and Minced Pork Pies: Traditional Chinese Lotus Root and Pork Pies Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: Pies, PorkCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Learn how to make Lotus Root and Minced Pork Pies with this traditional Chinese recipe. Crispy lotus root sandwiches filled with juicy pork, perfect for family gatherings or as a savory appetizer. Discover the rich flavors and cultural significance behind this delicious dish!

Ingredients

• Lotus root, 370g (sliced thinly)

• Leek, half of a large leek

• Pork belly, 270g (or 20% fat minced pork)

• Fresh ginger, 2g

• Plain flour, ½ cup

• Corn starch, ½ cup

• Medium-sized egg, 1

• Soy sauce, 1 tsp

• Salt, to taste

• Sugar, ⅓ tsp

• Chinese five spice or thirteen spice powder, ½ tsp (optional)

• Sweet chili sauce or ketchup (for dipping)

Directions

• Peel and wash the lotus root thoroughly, I soaked it in warm light vinegar and salt water and brushed all the holes with a straw cleaner, then rinsed with tap water
• Cut the lotus root into thin pieces, soak them in lightly salted water
• Add 270g pork belly into the food processor (with the ginger and leek mix still inside), add 1 tsp of corn starch, ½ tsp of salt (or salt to your taste), 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tbs water, ⅓ tsp of sugar, blend until pork is well minced and mixed with the rest of the ingredients (if you don’t have a food processor you could achieve this manually or replace pork belly with 20% fat minced pork)
• Now let’s prepare the batter, mix ½ cup of plain flour, ½ cup of corn starch, 1 pinch of salt, 1 medium sized egg, ½ tsp Chinese five species or thirteen spices (this is optional, so don’t worry if you do not have any), ⅔ cup of water (can also replace with beer), 2 tsp of cooking oil and mix well, the batter should run smoothly and not too thick
• Pat dry all of your thinly sliced lotus root
• Here is the fun part – ensemble time! Put a thin layer of the meat mix on one piece of lotus root slice, spread it evenly, and put another piece on top like making a burger or a sandwich, firmly press the two pieces together, some of the meat mix will come through the hole, that is perfectly ok, just press it evenly
• Repeat the process until all of them are done
• Heat up your grill to medium high, coat with a thin layer of oil
• Coat your lotus pork sandwiches with a thin layer of batter, gently place in your grill pan, cook until one side is golden brown and gently flip it to cook the other side
• Make sure the lotus root and the meat stuffing are thoroughly cooked, soak the excessive oil paper tower then plate. Me and my husband love to dip this into sweet & chilli sauce, my daughter on the other hand loves to eat it with ketchup. This dish can serve like a main with just a simple salad, or a side dish if you don’t want to make a lot in one go. Enjoy! 用餐愉快 （yòng cān yú kuài）!
  

The post Lotus Root and Minced Pork Pies: Traditional Chinese Lotus Root and Pork Pies Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

Peppers are a good source of Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin B6 and Folate. Besides making them into a salad, grilling them and roasting them, there are many other ways to cook peppers.

In this article, we are sharing with you one of our favorite dishes, also one of my mom’s special: Sweet and Sour Sauteed Pepper, also widely known as Tiger Skin Pepper (虎皮尖椒 hǔ pí jiān jiāo). This dish originated from Sichuan, China, the pan-fried pepper skin reminds people of tiger skin, hence the name and people usually make it with spicy green pointy peppers. It can be served with flatbread (饼 bǐng), Chinese bun (馒头 mán tóu), or rice (米饭 mǐ fàn). 

In this article, I chose to use sweet-colored peppers from our local shop instead of the usual spicy green ones, because my husband and my daughter are not quite the spicy types. Also it is hard to find the right kind of spicy green peppers locally. But you are very welcome to replace them with the pointy green spicy peppers. I have also used minced pork to stuff my peppers which are also optional if you are vegetarian or not a fan of pork

Tiger Skin Peppers Stuffed Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: Pork

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

This recipe will show you how to make stuffed tiger skin peppers, an underrated authentic Chinese side dish that looks and tastes impressive.

Ingredients

• Baby sweet peppers 300g

• Minced pork 250g

• Garlic 2 cloves

• Ginger 2g

• Chinese cooking wine ¼ tsp

• Light soy sauce 2 tbsp

• Chinese dark vinegar 2 tbsp

• Oyster sauce 1 tbsp

• Sugar 1 tbsp

• Water 2 tbsp

Directions

• Finely chop garlic and ginger.
• Take half of the chopped garlic & ginger with ¼ tsp Chinese cooking wine, mix with 250g minced pork, and set it aside.
• Wash the peppers, and remove the top part as well as the seeds inside. (If you are using those spicy green peppers, remember not to rub your eyes until your hands are thoroughly washed, I learned it the hard way…
• Stuff your minced pork inside the peppers, I simply used a butter knife to finish the job.
• Prepare the sweet and sour sauce. Add 2 tbsp of light soy sauce, 2 tbsp of Chinese dark vinegar, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of sugar and 2 tbsp of water. Mix well and set it aside.
• Heat up a frying pan, add a little bit of oil and wait for it to heat up.
• Turn the heat to medium-low, gently place your stuffed peppers in the pan and let them fry.
• I left mine for about 5 mins and turned them over to fry the other sides.
• Repeat this step until the skin of your peppers is nicely seared with an evenly “tiger skin” look. By the end of it, your peppers should be soft and the meat inside is thoroughly cooked.
• Take the peppers out, turn the heat up to full power and add the rest of the garlic and ginger mix, cook for 15 secs.
• Add the peppers back in, and pour in the mixed sweet and sour sauce, let it cook for a further 30 secs.
• Plate, and serve, enjoy (请慢用 qǐng màn yòng) !

Try It Yourself

And there you have it! This is how you can make a delicious batch of tiger skin pork stuffed peppers! Give our recipe a try and let us know how it turns out by tagging us on Instagram.

The post Tiger Skin Peppers Stuffed Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

I have to admit it was a bit of a shock when I first discovered that only fennel root was commonly sold in local shops here in the UK but not the stalks and fronds. If you happen to have the whole plant, don’t rush to throw away the upper part of this vegetable, as there are many ways to make good use of the stalks and fronds.

In this recipe, I will share with you my favourite dumpling stuffing mix with fennel stalks, fronds, and minced pork.

Making Chinese Dumplings

The first couple of times it may seem challenging to make the dumplings. But after a few tries, you will get the hang of it and soon realize how easy it is to make and how versatile this dish can be as well as your life easy feeding a big family.

One of the most important parts of dumplings is the dumpling skin/dumpling wrapper. You could easily purchase them from your local Chinese shop. Or, you could try our handmade dumpling wrappers recipe to make fresh dumpling skins at home! If you are making the dumpling skins at home, my suggestion is to work on your stuffing while your dough is resting. This will greatly reduce your overall cooking time.

Fennel Stalks and Fronds Dumplings Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: DumplingsCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

This recipe shows you how to make delicious and healthy Chinese pork dumplings with fennel stalks and fronds.

Ingredients

• Fennel stalks and fronds 270g

• Minced pork 500g

• Spring onion 11g

• Fresh ginger 5g

• Fresh garlic 8g

• Bay leaf 1 piece

• Star anise 1

• Sichuan peppercorn powder 3 shakes

• Oyster sauce 1 tbsp

• Sugar 1 tsp

• Chinese cooking wine ¼ tsp

• Light soy sauce ½ tbsp

• Sesame oil ½ tbsp

• Salt to taste

• Dumpling skin (store-bought or handmade)

Directions

• Finely chop 11g spring onion, 5g fresh ginger, 8g fresh garlic, set them aside.
• Wash and drain your fresh fennel stalks and fronds, finely chop them, set them aside.
• Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil into a saucepan, and heat up the oil using medium heat.
• Add 1 piece of bay leaf, 1 piece of star anise, 3 shakes of Sichuan peppercorn powder, cook until the bay leaf is nicely browned. Turn off the stove.
• Add your finely chopped spring onion, fresh ginger, and garlic mix to the hot oil and mix quickly to release the aroma. Pick the bay leaf and star anise out, leaving the rest to cool on the side.
• Add 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp sugar, ¼ of Chinese cooking wine, ½ tbsp of light soy sauce and ½ tbsp sesame oil into your minced pork, mix well.
• Add the cooled oil mix to your minced pork and mix well.
• Add your finely chopped fennel stalks and fronds into your minced pork mix, use your hand or your kitchen aid until the stuffing is well mixed.
• Take 1 piece of dumpling skin/wrapper, put a tsp of stuffing in the middle of the dumpling skin.
• Take the top edge and bottom edge and push them together, I don’t usually use water for this, but if your dumpling skin is store-bought and hard to stick together, you could try using some water to get the job done.
• Fold the sides with one of your hands, while the other hand holding your dumpling.
• I usually start boiling water when I start to fold the dumplings, with my big cooking pot, I could usually boil 10-15 dumplings in one go.
• Normally when you see the dumplings are floating, that means they are ready. I roughly boiled them for 6-7 mins before plating them.
• Serve.

How to Serve Chinese Dumplings

The traditional way to serve dumplings is with Chinese dark rice vinegar and chili oil. Garlic is also great when eating dumplings, you could try mince a few cloves and soak the garlic in your dark vinegar. If your dumpling is not salty enough, you could add some light soy sauce to your dipping sauce.

Variations

We hope you have enjoyed our fennel stalks and frond dumpling recipe. If you are not a fan of pork, you could easily replace the minced pork with scrambled eggs. Fennel fronds and scrambled eggs’ taste go very well together. 请慢用（qǐng màn yòng )!

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! This is how you can make pork and fennel Chinese dumplings. Give it a go and show us your creations on Instagram by tagging us at @linschinesekitchen.

The post Pork and Fennel Stalks & Fronds Dumplings Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

In this post, I’m going to give you what I consider to be the best Shumai recipe that can be made at home.

What are Shumai Dumplings?

Shumai (烧卖 shāo mài) is a type of traditional Chinese steamed dumpling commonly seen in Cantonese style restaurants. The historic record shows that a local dish of a similar description already existed in the Yuan dynasty, therefore people believe its history can be traced back at least 700 years ago.

Where Does Shumai Come From?

The story of Shumai is quite inspiring. Once upon a time, there was this restaurant. Compare to other restaurants nearby, this one was always quiet, and soon it might face being permanently shutting down. The owner of the restaurant one day looked at all the leftovers from the previous day, decided to mix the rice and meat, stuff them in a dumpling and sell them. However, because the stuffing was too much, he failed to close the dumplings as normally they would have, so instead, he just left them open and steamed them as they were. Without a name for this newly created dish, he told his staff to cook(烧) them and sell (卖) them. Unexpectedly these new dumplings sold out fast and gained a good reputation in the neighbourhood. Since then the name Shumai has been passed down through generations. There are many variations of Shumai in China, from north to south, ranging from vegetable to seafood to different kinds of meat as well as sticky rice (糯米 nuò mǐ) as stuffings.

How are Shumai Made?

In traditional Cantonese cuisine, Shumai are stuffed with either ground pork or shrimp mixed with other ingredients such as ginger, mushrooms, and spring onions. The cool thing about Shumai (and any kind of dumpling, for that matter) is that you can make it your own.

In this post, we are going to make pork, scallop and sticky rice stuffed Shumai together. It is not easy to find Chinese sticky rice (糯米 nuò mǐ) so I replace it with pudding rice, which works just fine.

How to Steam Shumai Without a Steamer?

Let me tell you a little secret: I do not own a steamer! The horror, I know right? Well, not quite. Steamers can be somewhat overrated, especially when you have a more versatile piece of equipment like a big pot. What I do is add enough water to last a few rounds of steaming. Then I use a steaming stand and make sure that the boiling water won’t reach the Shumai. I also cut a baking sheet into squares roughly a bit larger than the bottom of my Shumai to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the stand. After that, all you need to do is turn on the heat, place the dumplings in once you get a rolling boil, and cover the pot.

Can You Reheat Shumai?

Yes, you can reheat Shumai. I believe the best way is to just steam them using the method I described above. Alternatively, you can lightly fry them, which is a treat in itself. The added crunch gives the dumplings a whole new dimension so I recommend making extra to fry later.

Shumai

Recipe by LinCourse: Dumplings, MainCuisine: Chinese, CantoneseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

hours 

Cooking time

50

minutes

This recipe shows you how to make authentic homemade Cantonese Shumai with a ground pork and rice stuffing.

Ingredients

• Pudding rice ½ cup

• Green peas ¼ cup

• Sweet corn ¼ cup

• 10% fat minced pork 300g

• 10 dried Chinese shiitake mushrooms (香菇 xiāng gū)

• 1 purple onion

• 1 green bell pepper

• 3 spring onions

• 2 medium-sized carrots

• 5 cloves of garlic

• Scallops 50g

• Wangshouyi 13 spices ¼ tsp

• Light soy 1 tbsp

• Dark soy 1 tbsp

• Oyster sauce ½ tbsp

• Sugar 1 tsp

• Purple cabbage leaves x 5

• 3 tsp white vinegar

• Plain flour 240g

• Corn starch 120g

• Salt ¼ tsp

Directions

• Prepare the dough
• Boil 5 pieces of purple cabbage leaves in a cooking pot.
• Use a hand blender to blend and filter the juice (now it is dark purple).
• Add 3 tsp white vinegar into the juice, stir and wait for it to turn pink. Set it aside to cool.
• Mix 240g plain flour, 120g corn starch, ¼ tsp salt in a container.
• Divide the flour mix into two containers, each one should be around 180g.
• Pour 80-90g water into one of the flour mix, stir and knead. Pour 80-90g cooled pink cabbage juice into the other flour mix, stir and knead.
• Cover both doughs with a film and let them rest for 30 mins.
• Prepare the stuffing
• Soak 1/2 cup pudding rice in fresh water overnight.
• Soak 10 dried Chinese shiitake mushrooms in fresh water for 1 hour. Wash thoroughly before soaking.
• Peel the carrots and squeeze the mushrooms dry. Cut the mushrooms, bell pepper and carrots into small cubes, then place them in a bowl with green peas and sweet corns. Save the juice from the shiitake mushrooms for later use, because we don’t want all that flavour to go to waste.
• Finely blend the purple onion and 5 cloves of garlic.
• Finely blend the scallops.
• Stir fry the finely blended onion and garlic with a tsp of vegetable oil until softened.
• Add minced pork with blended scallops.
• Add 1 tbsp light soy, 1 tbsp dark soy, ½ tbsp oyster sauce, ¼ tsp Wangshouyi 13 spices and 1 tsp sugar into the mix. Stir fry well until thoroughly cooked. Turn off the stove. Add in the vegetables and mix well.
• Drained the soaked pudding rice, and put them in your slow cooker/rice cooker. Add your cooked and seasoned minced pork and vegetable mix to your rice.
• Pour the saved mushroom juice with fresh water into your slow cooker until the liquid reaches the surface of all the ingredients.
• Mix well and close the lid. Turn on the “rice” option and let it work the magic.
• After it is done. Don’t open the airway immediately to let the steam out. Instead, let it sit for another 10 mins.
• Open the lid, sprinkle some diced spring onion, mix well and let the rice stuffing cool while we prepare the Shumai skin.
• Assemble your Shumai
• Sort the rested dough into a long roll (white) and a larger piece with the same length (pinkish purple).
• Gently wrap the pinkish-purple skin outside the white dough. Roughly 2 cm diameter.
• Cut the long dough into small pieces (1 cm in length).
• Spread flour on top and flatten them.
• Use a rolling pin to roll the mini doughs into dumpling skins.
• Spread more flour between skins to prevent them from sticking to each other.
• After the rice stuffing is cool, spread the stuffing on a piece of skin. Remember to leave some space on the edge.
• Close your hand gently, while using the other hand to squeeze the “neck” of the Shumai. The first two may not come out the way you expected but it is ok. Keep trying and you will get the hang of it.
• After you are done with them, add baking sheets squares underneath each one and place them gently on your steamer or steaming stand (while the water underneath is boiling).
• Cover the lid and let them steam for 5 minutes. Voila!
• You could serve them with Chinese dark vinegar, eat them as they are, or like Yannis, eat them with his favourite sweet chilli sauce One bite is a mouth full of flavours. 您慢用(nín màn yòng)！

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! You now know how to make authentic Chinese Shumai with ground pork, scallops and sticky rice. Give the recipe a try and let us know how it goes in the comments! We’d love to hear from you. Also, be sure to share your creation on Instagram and tag us @linschinesekitchen.

The post Authentic Shumai (Siu Mai) Chinese Steamed Dumplings Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

Where to try Sheng Jian Bao in Shanghai

If you are looking for a good Sheng Jian Bao restaurant in Shanghai, Xiaoyang Shengjian (小杨生煎 xiǎo yáng shēng jiān) is a widely recognized chain restaurant. They have a newly opened branch located in Shanghai’s central business district – Lujiazui (Lujiazui Huanlu No. 1406, +86 21 5043 5606).

What you need to cook pork Sheng Jian Bao

The ingredients in the photo are all you need to make these delicious pan-fried buns. The prep for this dish is quite long but one bite of the finish product and you’ll know it was worth the effort.

Now, onto the recipe!

Authentic Sheng Jian Bao (Shanghai Pan-Fried Pork Buns) Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: Dumplings, PorkCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

10

hours 

Cooking time

20

minutes

Sheng jian bao are some of the most delicious buns from Chinese cuisine. This recipe will show you how to make an authentic pork version that’s stunning in both taste and looks.

Ingredients

• Pork skin aspic

• 124g pork skin

• 3 cups of water

• 1 x spring onion

• 5g ginger

• 1 tsp of white vinegar

• Dough

• 250g plain flour

• 1 tsp sugar

• 3g instant yeast

• 100g lukewarm water (30℃)

• 20g lukewarm milk (30℃)

• Stuffing

• 300g minced pork

• A handful of Chinese chive (optional)

• 2 x king oyster mushrooms

• 4g fresh ginger

• 5 cloves of garlic

• ½ tsp sugar

• 2 tsp light soy sauce

• 1 tsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tsp oyster sauce

• ¼ tsp sesame oil

• Pinch of salt (if your soy sauce is the reduced salt type, you may need to add a bit more salt)

• 300g pork skin aspic

Directions

• Pork Skin Aspic
• One of the most important elements of Sheng Jian Bao is pork skin aspic, which we need to prepare and let set overnight in the fridge.
• Put the spring onion, pork skin, water, 1tsp of white vinegar, 5g of ginger in a cooking pot, bring it to a boil for 5 mins.
• Carefully take the skin out, let it cool off a little.
• Use a knife to remove any leftover fat on the skin.
• Cut it into small stripes.
• Add 3 cups of fresh water and the pork skin stripes in a pressure cooker, then set it to stew mode.
• After it’s done, take a hand blender to blend the “stew” until no visible big chunks.
• Let it cool completely in a container before putting it into the fridge overnight to set.
• The next day you could see two visible layers in the container.
• Remove the top layer and keep the bottom layer.
• This step is important because this aspic will create a juicy texture for our Sheng Jian Bao.
• On the day you plan to cook Sheng Jian Bao, you need around 1 hour to let the dough rise and rest while mixing all the other ingredients for the stuffing.
• To make the dough
• Mix 250g plain flour, 1 tsp sugar, 3g instant yeast, 100g lukewarm water (30℃), 20g lukewarm milk (30℃) in a big container.
• Knead the dough well and cover it with either a film or a lid, let it rise, and rest for 1 hour in winter, or 30 mins in summer (the dough should visibly raise to 2 times the original size).
• Here you could utilize the time to prepare the stuffing.
• Knead the dough again, to release the air inside the dough.
• Sort it to a long and round shape, then cut it evenly into 14-16 sections.
• Spread more flour on top, further sort the mini doughs into smooth and rough shapes. Each is about 2cm in diameter and 1cm thick.
• Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough. The edge should be thinner than the center.
• To mix the stuffing
• While waiting for your dough to be ready, let’s mix the stuffing first.
• Cut a handful of Chinese chive into small pieces, chop 2 king oyster mushrooms into small chunks, peel 5 cloves of fresh garlic, put them together with 300g minced pork in a blender until well blended and mixed. Put the mix into a big container.
• Add 300g pork skin aspic in the blender, blend until turn into small pieces.
• Mix the pork skin aspic with the meat and vegetable mix and set it aside.
• Make the bao
• Now to make the actual Baozi (Bun). If it is your first time doing it, you may find it a bit intimidating to seal it. The trick for folding, especially if it is your first time is not to put too much stuffing in the center. This way you will have more space to work around. Here is a quick video from Youtube which I think is a good way to learn how to make the pleat.
• After you are done with all the buns, put them in a flat container with folds facing down and cover them with a layer of film. Let them rise again for 1 hour in winter or 30 mins in summer. The well-rested buns should be fluffy and light.
• Heat up a flat pan on low heat with a couple of sprays of vegetable oil.
• Gently place the well-rested buns in the pan and cover with a lid, let it fry on low heat for 3-5 mins, check to make sure the bottom is not burnt.
• Increase the heat to medium, then add a cup of water and cover with a lid. Let the buns steam until the water is completely dry, reduce the heat if needed to avoid overcooking.
• Switch off the heat and let the buns sit in the pan until it cools off a little (If you take them out right away, they may not be able to hold the puffy shape).
• Open the lid and garnish, usually we use black sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onions.
• In China, we usually dip Sheng Jian Bao in dark vinegar, but Yanni loves them with sweet chili sauce Enjoy, 请慢用(qǐng màn yòng).

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! This is how you can make delicious and fluffy authentic sheng jian bao. These pan-fried buns are sure to impress your family and friends at your next gathering. If you tried the recipe, we’d love it if you posted on Instagram and tagged us @linschinesekitchen.

The post Authentic Sheng Jian Bao (Shanghai Pan-Fried Pork Buns) Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

Background on Lu Rou Fan

The best cut of pork to make this dish is what we call Wuhuarou (五花肉 wǔ huā ròu) in Chinese, which means marbled meat. This is what we use to describe the “5-layered meat” of a good pork belly cut. This specific cut of pork will give you a superb texture when braised or slow-cooked, also it is quite cheap to get here in the UK compare to other cuts of pork, which means if you are cooking for a big group, this dish will not only provide that exotic wow factor but will also save you quite a bit of money. 

If you are planning a trip to Taiwan, definitely give this dish a try, you won’t regret it! Here are some suggested restaurants for Lu Rou Fan in Taipei:

1. Lugang Lu Rou Fan (鹿港魯肉飯)

Address: No. 233, Section 2, Yanping N Rd, Datong District, Taipei City, Taiwan 

Phone: +886 2 2557 3269

2. Huang Ji Braised Pork (黃記魯肉飯)

Address: No. 28, Lane 183, Section 2, Zhongshan N Rd, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan

Phone: +886 2 2595 8396

3. Lushier Braised Pork (魯十二滷肉飯 三重仁愛店)

Address: No. 356, Ren’ai St, Sanchong District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 

Phone: +886 2 8985 2279

What Ingredients You Need to Make Authentic Lu Rou Fan

The best cut of meat to use for Lu Rou Fan is pork belly, preferably with a nice ratio of fat on it for that extra flavour. You’ll also need a nice helping of dried shiitake mushrooms. Our recipe also includes boiled eggs which compliment the braised flavours of the pork.

Now that we have our ingredients ready, let’s get to the recipe!

Authentic Lu Rou Fan (Braised Pork Belly) Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: MainCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

10

minutes

This recipe shows you how to make an authentic Chinese Lu Rou Fan stir fry with braised pork belly and boiled eggs.

Ingredients

• 500g pork belly

• 10 x dried shiitake mushrooms

• 3 x eggs

• 1 medium onion

• 4 x cloves of garlic

• 5g fresh ginger

• 3 x bay leaves

• ½ tsp Wangshouyi 13 species

• ½ tsp Chinese cooking wine

• ½ tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tbsp light soy sauce

• ½ tsp oyster sauce

Directions

• Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in room temperature water for 30 mins. Afterwards, cut the mushrooms into small cubes, filter the mushroom water and put the cut mushrooms back. We purposely save the mushroom water for its rich savoury note which will provide the dish bursting umami.
• Boil 3 eggs and peel them. Set them aside for later.
• Peel your garlic, onion and ginger (because I didn’t have any onion at the time, I didn’t put any). Finely chop them like shown in the picture, this step will make the fragrance of the ingredients release easily when stir-fried in hot oil.
• Cut your pork belly into small strips, make sure the one strip you cut has the “layered marble”, which means it should contain a few layers of fat and lean meat.
• Add a tbsp of vegetable oil to a cooking pot, heat it up. Add your minced ginger, garlic, onion and bay leaves in the oil, keep stir-frying until they are nicely browned.
• Add your pork belly in and keep stir-frying until the meat is browned evenly. Add the soaked and cut mushrooms along with the mushroom water.
• Add ½ tsp oyster sauce, 1tbsp light soy sauce, ½ tbsp dark soy sauce, ½ tsp Chinese cooking wine, ½ tsp Wangshouyi 13 spices, 3 tsp pure cane sugar, salt to your taste and 2.5 cups of water, add the boiled and peeled eggs in. Medium-low heat, let the ingredients slow cook for 1 hour. Check midway to make sure your food is not dry and is not burned (I added a layer of damp towel on top of my lid to reduce water evaporation). Flip the eggs if only half of them are soaked in the sauce, so they could come out with a more evenly “tan”.
• Take out the bay leaves before serving. Boil vegetables of your choice for garnishing. Don’t forget to serve with some of the sauce on your rice, that’s the soul of this dish!
• We hope you enjoy it. 您慢用 (nín màn yòng)!

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! This is how you can make an authentic Lu Rou Fan dish with braised pork and boiled eggs. Give it a go and let us know what you think in the comments below. If you make the recipe, be sure to share it on Instagram and tag us @linschinesekitchen.

The post Authentic Lu Rou Fan (Braised Pork Belly) Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

These are called Karela, also known as bitter melon or bitter gourd. They’re commonly seen in Asian countries and despite the odd appearance and of course, the bitter taste, they’re actually quite nutritious and therefore provide several health benefits.

Long story short, bitter melon is one of my mom’s favourite vegetables. She used to cook bitter melon all the time when I was young. At first, it was a bit challenging, but against all the odds, I eventually fell in love with it and bitter melon became one of my favourite vegetables ever since.

One of the most popular ways for us to cook bitter melon in China is to stir fry it with pork belly slices （苦瓜炒肉 kǔ guā chǎo ròu）. The texture and taste of this dish work very well together and it goes perfectly with rice. That being said, my husband Yanni to this day still couldn’t bring himself to eat bitter melon, but I will never quit offering

To the brave, to the curious, to the bitter melon lovers, here is the recipe!

Bitter Melon & Pork Belly Stir Fry Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: MainCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

This authentic Chinese recipe will show you how to make a delicious and healthy bitter melon and pork belly stir fry dish.

Ingredients

• Pork belly 250g

• Karela x 2

• Ginger 2g

• Garlic 3 cloves

• Spring onion x 1

• Shaoxing cooking wine 2 tsp

• Light soy 2 tsp

• Dark soy 1 tsp

• Oyster sauce 1 tsp

• Corn starch 1 tbsp

• Sugar 1 tsp

Directions

• Thinly slice 250 pork bellies and put them in a bowl.
• Add 2 tsp of Shaoxing cooking wine, 2 tsp of light soy, 1 tsp dark soy, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp corn starch, 1 tsp sugar, mix well and set it aside.
• Cut bitter melons in half.
• Remove seeds.
• Cut into around 3mm thick half-moon slices.
• Finely chop the ginger, garlic and spring onion. Put them on a plate and set them aside.
• Put 3 cups of water into a saucepan and add 1 tsp of olive oil. Bring it to a boil. Put the bitter melon slices in and let them boil for 40 seconds.
• Take the bitter melon slices out and soak in cold water, repeat 3 times. (The above process is called blanching and shocking, which is a very common way to partially cook/prepare vegetables in China. This process is used to preserve the colour and crunch of the vegetables).
• Heat up a cooking pot and add 2 tsp vegetable oil. Put in the finely chopped ginger, garlic and spring onion after the oil is properly heated. Stir fry for 30 seconds.
• Put your marinated pork belly slices in. Keep stir-frying until the meat is thoroughly cooked.
• Add your bitter melon slices in and stir fry for a further 30 seconds.
• Plate and serve with rice. Hope you like it! 请慢用（qǐng màn yòng）

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! A delicious and healthy bitter melon and pork belly stir fry dish. Give it a try and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. We’re also happy to answer any and all questions you may have about this dish. Remember to also follow us on Instagram for more photos of authentic Chinese food!

The post Bitter Melon & Pork Belly Stir Fry Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

It was said, the creator of this dish was this old man Mr. Chen, who lived in a Beijing courtyard with his grandson in the 1930s. Mr. Chen and his grandson loved Peking Duck, but it was too much of a luxury to eat Peking Duck at the time for a normal family like theirs. So instead of duck, they used pork and ate it together with Peking Duck sauce, tofu wraps, and spring onions. Over time, this “poor man’s” version of Peking Duck became one of the most popular dishes in old Beijing. 

This is also one of my family’s favorite dishes. I have to admit, pork and the sweet bean paste-based Peking Duck Sauce are a heavenly combination.

What’s even better is that this dish is very easy to make! Clocking in at under 30 minutes for prep and cooking, this dish will easily become one of your own go-tos when you’re just not feeling like spending too much time in the kitchen.

Jingjiang Pork Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: MainCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

An authentic Chinese recipe that shows you how to make delicious Jingjiang pork with leek garnish. Super easy to make yet delicious.

Ingredients

• Pork loin 400g

• Large leeks x 2

• Ginger 1 piece

• Shaoxing Cooking Wine 1 tsp

• Corn starch 1 tsp

• Egg white x 1

• Peking Duck Sauce 3 tbs

Directions

• Julienne 400g of pork loin and add 1 teaspoon of Shaoxing cooking wine, 1 piece of ginger, 1 teaspoon of corn starch, and an egg white. Mix them well, and let marinate for 15 mins.
• Finely slice 2 leeks and set them aside on a plate.
• Warm up the pan with high heat until hot and add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Wait until the oil is heated, then stir fry the finely sliced leek and place it on a plate.
• Add 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil to the hot pan and wait until the oil is heated. Take out the ginger first before adding the marinated pork to the pan. Stir fry until thoroughly cooked.
• Turn the heat to medium and add 3 tablespoons of Peking Duck Sauce to the pan. Mix well, then let it cook for 2 mins while stirring.
• Plate the cooked pork on top of the leek in the plate and serve!

Try It Yourself!

And this is how you can make one of the easiest authentic Chinese dishes! Give it a go and let us know how you get on in the comments below. If you have any questions, we’re monitoring the comments of all of our recipes so ask away. Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram for more mouth-watering Chinese food photos.

The post Jingjiang Pork Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

Xianbing（馅饼 xiàn bǐng ）which essentially is a type of meat pie that’s very popular in China. It is easy to cook, comes with loads of variations, and is one of my go-to dishes when I have very limited ingredients at home. My husband always jokes that Xianbing is quite like Pizza, you can put whatever ingredients you want. The only difference is that one is wrapped inside the dough, the other is on top of the dough.

So today, I have decided to make Xianbing for my family with pork & Chinese leaf filling, one of my all-time favorites!

Xianbing Chinese Meat Pie Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: Pies

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

40

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

An authentic Chinese recipe that shows you how to make real Xianbing meat pies. Includes a zingy special dipping sauce.

Ingredients

• Dough

• Plain flour 250g

• Salt 1 tsp

• 30-40 °C warm water 130g

• Filling

• 10% fat minced pork 250g

• Half of Chinese leaf (small to medium sized)

• Spring onion x 1

• Garlic 1 clove

• Ginger 2 slices

• Bay leaf x 2

• White pepper powder 1 tsp

• Shaoxing cooking wine 2 tsp

• Dark soya sauce 1 tsp

• Light soya sauce 1 tsp

• Sesame oil 1 tsp

• Leek x 1 (medium or large)

• Egg x 1

• Salt 1 tsp

• Sichuan peppercorn 1g (optional)

• Lin’s Special Dipping Sauce

• Garlic 3 cloves

• Sesame oil 1 tbs

• Chinese dark rice vinegar 2 tbs

• Chili sauce (Laoganma) 1 tsp

Directions

• Let’s start with the dough because it needs roughly 30 mins to rest. Add 250g plain flour and 1 teaspoon of salt in a big container. Slowly pour in warm water while stirring the mix by adding the water in 3 separate gos. By the end of it, your dough should be forming into one big chunk like this.
• Knead it for a few minutes. The surface won’t look very smooth but that’s ok. Cover it with a lid or cling film and let it rest for 15 mins.
• While our dough is resting, let’s start working on our filling together! Take our lovely 10% fat minced pork out and in a big container.
  
• Put one cup of water in a small pot. Add 1 spring onion, 1 glove of garlic, 1g of Sichuan peppercorns (optional), 2 slices of ginger, and 2 pieces of bay leaves.
• Bring it to a boil for 2 mins, and pour the liquid into a small bowl to cool (we only need 20g of this).
• Cut the half of the Chinese leaf and the leek into small slices.
• Now, my mom does this part manually, but I just don’t have that upper body strength (or the patience for that matter) to chop the veggies. So I have resorted to the easy way…
• So if you do it manually, make sure your veggies are chopped into tiny pieces, as this will allow you a relatively easy wrapping process when you make the Xianbing later, and give the final product a more consistent texture. This is what it looks like with my food processor.
• Now we have our finely processed (chopped) veggies, we need to squeeze all the juice out. You could use a cheesecloth for this part but I don’t have any at home so it’s the bare-handed style for me.
• Here it would be a good time to check the boiled juice that has been sitting quietly on the side. If it has cooled down (otherwise, sit the container in cold water to help with the process), add it to your minced meat in three separate gos. Beat the meat vigorously in between.
• Add 2 teaspoons of Shaoxing cooking wine, 1 teaspoon of dark soy, 1 teaspoon of light soy, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon of white pepper powder into the mix. Beat vigorously for 3-4 mins. By the end of the process, the meat should have absorbed all the liquid in there. Now we add 1 egg, and the finely chopped strained Chinese leaf and leek. Mix it well and set it aside.
• Knead the dough again, this time you should see a very smooth surface. Cover again let it sit for another 15 mins.
• Bring the well-rested dough out, spread some flour on your working surface. Sort your dough into roughly 2.5cm x 2.5cm mini doughs, round them up in your palm, and flatten them on your working surface.
• Use your rolling pin to roll your mini doughs into a flat round shaped piece. You can see the technique I use in this video. The key is to roll and stretch out the edge while doing so. Layer these skins up with flour in between so they don’t stick.
• Add one teaspoon of salt in your filling mix, stir well. Put the filling in the center area of your wrap. You can see the technique I use in this video. You can add as much as you are comfortable with, I used to only be able to wrap a tiny bit of filling in each of my Xianbing when I first started learning to make them. Remember to avoid the edge, otherwise, it would be hard to close up.
• Now you can start warming up your frying pan with medium-high heat, and spray a bit of oil on the surface when it is warmed up.
• Place your Xianbing in the hot pan, spread them a bit further your fingers gently (careful not to burn yourself),  cover with a lid, let them cook for 4 mins.
• Open the lids, check the bottom of your Xianbing, they should be nicely browned at this point.
• Spray a bit more oil on the top of your Xianbing, turn them around and let them cook for another 3-4 mins. Check the meat is thoroughly cooked.
• Lin’s Special Dipping Sauce
• As a northern Chinese, I absolutely adore Xianbing, especially with a good dipping sauce (goes for Dumplings and Baozi too)!
  
  Mix together 3 cloves of garlic minced, 1 teaspoon of Chinese chili sauce (Laoganma), 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and 2 tablespoons of Chinese dark rice vinegar in a bowl.
• Mix well and enjoy the heavenly taste! YUM!

Try It Yourself!

Now you know how to make delicious Xianbing Chinese Meat Pies. Let us know in the comments how it goes for you. We’re also around to answer any questions your may have as well as hear out any variations you come up with. Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram for more Chinese food photos!

The post Xianbing Chinese Meat Pie Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

Yuxiang Pork (鱼香肉丝 yú xiāng ròu sī) is a very popular dish in China. Yuxiang (鱼香 yú xiāng) here literally means “fish flavoured”. It has a perfect balance of sweet, sour, and spiciness, and that makes it pair well with rice. The story says, Yuxiang Pork was originally created by a housewife in Sichuan province. The family loved eating fish. One day, the housewife got creative and used some of the leftover ingredients from their fish-based meals for other dishes. The taste was surprisingly good, and because the dish was cooked with ingredients normally used with fish dishes, the type of dish has been called “fish flavoured – Yuxiang (鱼香 yú xiāng)” ever since.

Yuxiang Pork has been one of my favourite dishes since I was 8. My dad used to take me to restaurants after school and order Yuxiang Pork to share with me. Although it was still too spicy for an 8-year old’s taste buds, I just couldn’t resist the heavenly taste. My dad would sit together with me and pick out the chillies from the dish first before he started eating himself. Being away from my home for so many years, I look back on this memory whenever I have a well-made Yuxiang Pork dish.

So, in this post, I will share with you the ingredients and the method I used to make this incredibly flavorful dish from Sichuan province.

Yuxiang Pork Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: MainCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

10

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

An authentic Chinese recipe that shows you how to make the classic Sichuan dish called Yuxiang pork. A spicy and flavourful local favourite.

Ingredients

• Pork Marinade

• Egg white from 1/2 egg

• Light soy sauce 1/2 tbs

• Corn starch 1 tbs

• Sugar 1/2 tbs

• White ground pepper 1/4 tbs

• Shaoxing Wine (or Chinese cooking wine) 1 tbs

• Main Ingredients

• Pork loin (or other cuts) 400g

• Carrots 2 medium-sized

• Chinese Wood Ear mushroom 1 handful

• Bamboo Shoots 100g

• Chopped garlic 5 cloves

• Chopped ginger 1 tsp

• Spicy bean paste (红油豆瓣酱 hóng yóu dòu bàn jiàng) 1 tbs

• Pickled chillies (剁椒 duò jiāo) 1/2 tbs

• Flavouring Sauce

• Chinese dark rice vinegar 2 tbs

• Light soy sauce 1 tbs

• Corn starch 2 tsp

• Water 3 tbs

Directions

• Pre-preparation (approx. 1 hour before cooking)
• Put the handful of Wood Ear mushrooms in warm water and let them soak.
• Julienne the pork into little strips
• Mix the ingredients for the marinade together in a container. Add the pork and set aside.
• Preparation and cooking
• Julienne your carrots, soaked Wood Ear mushrooms, and bamboo shoots (or any other vegetables, such as baby corn).
• Prepare the flavouring sauce in a bowl by mixing the ingredients in a bowl. Set aside as you will need this after cooking.
• Warm up a pan and add half of a tablespoon of cooking oil.
• Add 1 tablespoon of spicy bean paste (红油豆瓣酱) after 5 secs. Stir continuously on medium heat until the oil turns red.
• Turn up the heat to high. Add ½ tablespoon of Chinese pickled chillies (剁椒) and cook for a few seconds (beware of jumping hot oil splashes).
• Add the julienned pork you have marinated for an hour. Stir while the pork is browning in the pan.
• Make sure the pork is properly cooked first before putting it in a bowl. Set aside.
• Use the leftover oil in the pan to cook the julienned carrots, wood ears and bamboo shoots (and/or any other vegetables you are using) for 3-4 mins.
• Put the cooked pork back together with the veggies. Add the ginger and garlic and stir while cooking for 2 mins.
• Stir the flavouring sauce first with a spoon to make sure it is well mixed. Pour in the pan and keep stirring until the sauce has nicely thickened and coated on the meat and veggies.
• Serve with rice and enjoy!

Recipe Video

Different vinegar brands may affect the sourness of your dish. You might need to experiment a couple of times to achieve the perfect balance. I used Zhenjiang Rice Vinegar only because it is easy to find here in our local Chinese shops.

As for the wine, I typically use Shaoxing Wine because it has that authentic Chinese flavour. Any Chinese cooking wine, though, will do the trick. You could also experiment with other cooking wines and let us know how it turns out!

Variations

The original Yuxiang dish has always been meat-based and has used pork. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t switch the base up. For the veggie lovers and vegans out there, we’ve added a delicious Yuxiang Aubergine recipe just for you. Check it out here!

Try It Yourself!

Now you know how to make delicious Yuxiang Pork for a small group! For those averse to spicy food, Yannis feels this is a good introduction to Sichuan dishes. It’s got a rich enough flavour to make the slight burn worth the effort.

Let us know in the comments how it went! We’ll also be monitoring to answer any questions you may have so ask away. You can also follow us on Instagram for more food photos to whet your appetite.

The post Yuxiang Pork Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.