Beef Xian Bing (牛肉餡餅)

This is quite a delicacy!  Not a whole lot of Noodle-House-type restaurants can make it well, even if they have it on the menu.  We found it hard to translate the name Xian Bing into English, because it has no proper counterpart in the Western world.  It's somewhat comparable to meat pie or calzone, only different, in size, filling, skin, and cooking method.  It can be described as wrapping a blob of ground beef inside soft flour skin, reminding us of Xiao Lung Bao (小籠包), only different.  As a result, we use transliteration for the name.  This is our favorite flour-based food, simply because the taste is quite pleasing and satisfying, the flour skin soft, the filling juicy.... the epitome of fine Chinese food :-).  BTW, it is often served with the Hot and Sour Soup (酸辣湯) we posted earlier.

I. The ground beef filling

1. Place about 1.5 lbs of 80-85% lean ground beef in a large mixing bowl.  Note- Costco's 88% lean ground beef in large packs works well. But the package might be too big.  Alternatively, mix regular ground beef (70% lean), with freshly-grounded beef flank (炒牛肉), in equal parts.
2. Add 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce, 2 Tbsp Sesame Oil, 1 Tbsp Cooking Wine and 1 tsp salt.  Use a pair of chopsticks to stir in clockwise circular motion (one direction only), while gradually adding in 3/4 cup of chicken broth (or water). Continue to stir in the same clockwise direction till the liquid is thoroughly absorbed into the ground beef, with no trace of water in the ground beef.  Note- It's hard to do "season to taste" with raw meat.  The seasoning here is on the light side, which can be compensated by the dipping sauce when Xian Bing is served (see Part IV, Step 3).  Or, add 1 Tbsp of soy sauce and 1/2 tsp of salt.  
3. Chop 1.5 medium-sized onions and 1.5 bunches (6-8 stalks) of green onion (scallion), and add into the mixing bowl.  Add 1/2 tsp white pepper (or black pepper) and mix thoroughly. 
4. Cover the mixing bowl and let chill in the fridge for an hour or two. 

II. The dough and the flour skin

1. Place 4 cups of all purpose flour in another large mixing bowl.  Stir in 1.25 cups of hot water (~200-deg-F, hissing but not boiling yet) gradually with a pair of chopsticks, then stir in 0.25 cup of room temperature water, and 0.25 cup of vegetable oil gradually.  While adding water and oil gradually, stir the flour mix with a pair of chopsticks until the flour is mostly bunched together (this is when we stop adding more water and oil).  Knead the dough in the mixing bowl till its surface is smooth.  Wrap the dough in plastic and let it sit for 30 minutes.  Note- We used the KitchenAid Mixer with a dough hook at its lowest speed to knead the dough till it surface is smooth, for 6-7 minutes (stopped every couple of minutes to scrape the dough off of the hook, and started kneading again).
2. Place the dough on a flour-dusted kneading board, cut the dough in half.  Work on one half of the dough first, by cutting it into 10 roughly even parts (doses).  Each dose needs to be rolled into a round-shaped skin that is 5-6" in diameter.  Note- If we roll the rolling pin along the edge of the skin with one hand in an up-and-down motion, while turning the dose in counter-clockwise motion with the other hand handling the  dose with the thumb on top and the other 4 fingers underneath, we can roll the dose into a round in 15-20 seconds.  It takes some practice, but quite doable.

III. Wrapping the filling inside the skin

1. Place a large blob of filling in the center of the flour skin (large enough to cover at least 60-75% of the surface).  A good xian bing should have thin skin and a lot of meat filling.  Since there is large amount of water in the filling, once cooked, it will shrink.  So, you should try to put as much filling as you can.
2. Use one hand to cradle the filling-covered-skin, and use the thumb and forefinger of the other hand to pull the skin up from the edge and pinch the edge tightly together one small portion of the circumference a time.  Continue to pull the skin up and pinch the edge together, to form a good 15-20 wrinkles into the center.  At the end, tightly pinch and squeeze all the wrinkles together and twist in counter-clockwise motion (to seal the fillings into a water-proof pocket).  Place the wrapped Xian Bing wrinkle-side-down on a flour-dusted non-stick baking pan. See picture below for 10 pieces of Xian Bing, made out of half of the dough.  Note- This part is similar to the making of Xiao Lung Bao (小籠包).  It takes some practice to make the pocket tightly sealed without leaking fluid while cooking.  The finished Xian Bing can be frozen and kept for weeks. 
   

IV. Cooking the Xian Bing

1. (Medium Heat) Heat 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a 10-12" frying pan.  Place 4-6 Xian Bing in the pan with the wrinkles facing down.  Cook till the surface is golden, but not brown (2 -3 minutes).  Flip the Xian Bing and cook till the surface is golden (but not brown).  Flip the Xian Bing back to wrinkle-side-down position.  This step hardens the surface of the Xian Bing. so it could withstand the water-based frying (水煎) in the next step.  When you flip the Xian Bings, use a thin spatula and be careful not to poke the skin on the side.
2. (Low-to-Medium Heat) Prepare half a cup of water in a measuring cup. Add about 1/4 cup (i.e., 4 Tbsp) of the water into the pan and shake the pan slightly to get the water underneath the Xian Bing.  Cover the pan and let cook till the water evaporates (for ~3 minutes).  Repeat the process again, and the surface of the Xian Bing should be golden brown.  Flip it and cook the other side for ~3 minutes 
3. Serve the Xian Bing with a dipping sauce, a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, minced garlic, vinegar, and the optional hot red pepper sauce (辣豆瓣). The finished product is shown below.