Chinese Pork Bun 肉夹馍

I grew up in a region that grows both rice and wheat. Comparing to people from places that only grow wheat, we don’t put as much enthusiasm to wheat-based foods, which have simple ingredients but need more effort and skills. To me, the variation of flour (all-purpose vs bread flour), amount of liquid (water, egg, milk), with and without yeast, fermentation time, steam vs bake… are way too challenging for me to handle. Despite all these, I do love wheat-based foods.

People in a large part of China prepare and consume a Chinese type of naan/flatbread stuffed with cooked meat. This is called Roujiamo (meat stuffed bread). It is a street food said to originate from cuisines in Shaanxi Province. The meat is stewed for hours in soup containing up to 20 seasonings. The most common meat is pork, but Muslims use either beef or mutton. Traditionally, the bun/bread is baked in a clay oven. Now, most stores use frying pans. The flavors between these two differ dramatically.

When I took my kids to China, they also loved it. Due to the pandemic, we couldn’t travel there for a long time. With the practice of preparing cheese naan,  I decided to try the pork-stuffed bun which involves preparation of the bun (naan) and the cooked meat. The dough part is like cheese naan’s dough. It turned out that the wheat aroma brought out by and crispy surface from the low heat baking without adding oil is so amazing.

Unlike stew in most Roujiamo, I decided to roast the meat. I don’t have a grill. So, I used the marinating ingredients and cooking technique from pulled pork but followed with roasting to bring out the flavor. The resulting meat is very flavorful.

The recipe takes some effort, but it does boost my skills preparing wheat-based food, and the resulting food is very satisfying.