Chinese Pork Belly Bun
Pork belly buns are one of my favorites. There are many different kinds from many Asian countries. This particular version is from the Xi’an province of China where the pork belly is served on more of a flatbread type of bun, instead of the typical steamed bun varieties that you may be used to seeing. They are traditionally topped with chopped bell peppers and cilantro with a little chili oil. I used shredded cabbage, shallots, and green onion in addition to the peppers and cilantro.There are 2 routes you can go with braising the pork belly: skin-on or skinless. Both are great. Having the skin on does generate a little more grease to the pork, but that can be spooned out. Other then that, the rest of the braising process is pretty straight forward. Towards the end, your should have about 1 cup of the braising liquid left.The flatbreads only have 3 ingredients: flour, yeast, and room temperature water. Mix them together, knead for a couple of minutes, and let rise for 25-30 minutes in a plastic wrap covered bowl. If your a glutton such as myself, you can portion out the dough into 8 equal pieces. But they are typically a little smaller then that, so 10 equal portions is good too. Roll them out into 1”4 thick discs. They take 3-4 minutes a side on a hot oiled griddle. Once they cool off, slice in half and top with the pork belly and the toppings of your liking.
Ingredients
Braised Pork Belly
- 3 lb skin-on pork belly
- 4 dried chili peppers
- 3 whole clove
- 1 whole nutmeg
- 1 whole star anise
- 2” cinnamon stick
- 2 slices of ginger
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
Flatbread
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 cup room temp water
Pork Belly Buns
- bell peppers chopped
- cabbage shredded
- shallots thinly sliced
- cilantro roughly chopped
- green onions chopped
- hot chili oil
Instructions
Braised Pork Belly
- Cut up pork belly into 1” chunks. Place in a Dutch oven, covering with enough water until it is submerged. Bring to a boil. Rub the heat to medium low. Simmer for 10 minutes. Scoop off the scum that floats to the top.
- Add in the chili peppers, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, star anise, green onions, and shaoxing wine. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the soy sauces, sugar, salt, and cracked black pepper. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
- Uncover. Simmer for another hour.
- You should have no more then 1 cup of braising liquid left.
Flatbreads
- Mix together the dough ingredients. Flour your hands and knead the dough for a couple of minutes.
- Cover in plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 25 minutes.
- Lightly flour your surface. Portion the dough out into 8-10 dough balls.
- Roll them out about a 1/4“ thick.
- Heat up cooking oil over medium high heat on a griddle. Toss on the flatbreads.
- Cook for 3-4 minutes a side.
Pork Bun Assembly
- Slice a flatbread in half. Scoop on a generous portion of the pork belly. Top off with chili oil, bell peppers, shredded cabbage, shallots, cilantro, and green onion.
