This popular street food combines succulent beef, crisp vegetables and sweet and savoury hoisin sauce rolled up in a soft, chewy green onion pancake. It’s a perfect combination.
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Taiwanese-Style Braised Beef Rolls
- Prep Time: 45 minutes + 1/5 hours Resting time
- Cook Time: 3.5 hours
- Total Time: 5 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 rolls 1x
Ingredients
1½ lb (750 g) Beef Cheeks
3-inch (8 cm) cinnamon stick
1 EACH bay leaf, whole star anise
1 small piece dried tangerine peel (chenpi)
3 whole cloves
1 tsp (5 mL) EACH whole Sichuan peppercorns and whole white peppercorns
4 slices (¼ inch/0.5 cm thick) gingerroot (unpeeled)
2 large green onions, Welsh onions, or small leeks (see Note*), trimmed
3 tbsp (45 mL) EACH Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce
2 tsp (10 mL) granulated sugar
Pancake Dough
3⅓ cups (825 mL) all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 mL) water
¼ tsp (1 mL) active dry yeast
Peanut or canola oil
Pancake Filling
¼ cup (60 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
¼ cup (60 mL) peanut or canola oil
1½ cups (375 mL) very thinly sliced green onions (about 2 bunches)
To Serve
Hoisin sauce
Julienned cucumber
Thinly sliced green onions
Fresh cilantro sprigs
Instructions
- Place beef in a large pot and add water to cover by about 3 inches (8 cm). Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat and boil for 5 minutes, skimming off any scum that rises to the top. Drain and rinse well under cold, running water; drain again. Clean the pot and return the meat to pot.
- Enclose cinnamon stick, bay leaf, star anise, tangerine peel, cloves, Sichuan peppercorns, white peppercorns and gingerroot in a cheesecloth bundle, a tea filter bag or spice infuser. Add to the pot along with large green onions, wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar. Add just enough water to cover the beef. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2½ hours, checking occasionally and maintaining the liquid level by replenishing with water as necessary, until beef is fork-tender but not falling apart. Remove spice bundle and large green onions with tongs and discard. Cover and keep warm.
- Pancake Dough: Meanwhile, combine flour, water, yeast and 1 tbsp (15 mL) oil in a bowl. Mix with a sturdy spoon until all the flour is incorporated and the dough forms a rough ball. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Knead dough on a clean surface without adding any flour, just until it forms a smooth ball (prolonged kneading is not required). Roll into a log and cut into 6 equal pieces. Roll each into a ball and place on a baking sheet, spacing them apart. Cover and let rest for 1 hour.
- Pancake Filling: Combine the flour and salt in a heatproof stainless steel bowl. Heat the oil over medium heat in a small saucepan to 350ºF (180ºC). Pour over the flour mixture and stir well to combine. Set aside.
- Working with one ball of dough at a time, roll with a rolling pin on a clean surface into an 8-inch (20 cm) circle. Brush with about one-sixth of the Pancake Filling mixture and sprinkle evenly with green onions (about ¼ cup/60 mL). Make a cut from the centre to the edge of the circle as if you were making the first cut of a pie. Starting at the outside of the circle at the point of one cut edge, roll the dough around in a circle to form a cone shape and enclose the filling. Wrap the end point around the cone and pinch lightly to seal. Holding the cone like an ice cream cone in one hand, press your other thumb into the centre of the cone to push down filling. Then, using the same thumb, working around the top, outer rim of the cone, tuck the outside edge into the centre of the cone while using your other hand to rotate the cone as you tuck. Continue all the way around the cone to enclose all of the filling and cover the top of the cone with dough. Place the cone with the wide end down on the counter and flatten it with the palm of your hand into a disk shape. Return to baking sheet, cover and continue with the remaining dough balls and filling, keeping track of the order they were shaped.
- Heat a heavy 10-inch (25 cm) skillet over medium heat and brush lightly with oil (use 2 skillets, if available, to cook 2 at a time). Roll out the first disk on a clean work surface into an 8-inch (20 cm) circle (some green onions will poke through the dough). Add to hot pan and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, flipping twice and pressing down a few times with a spatula each time you flip, just until pancake is opaque with golden spots on both sides, but still flexible. Transfer to a plate, stacking pancakes as they are made and cover with a cloth.
