韭菜盒子Stuffed Leek Pie
This traditionally Northern Chinese staple used to cost $2 on the streets in Flushing, NY. Now you will likely have to shell out several more dollars!
I used to love to grab a bunch of these 韭菜盒子 whenever we visited Flushing. Since the lockdown and pandemic, we are rediscovering the abundance of garlic chives in our back garden, and I have made several iterations of these gluten heavy pies. Of course, CC#2 informed me that these are not her favorites.
Earlier this spring, I made another attempt upon seeing this Youtube recipe, which made two adjustments: 1) it utilized puff pastry technique by adding a oil + flour roux (油酥) to make a flaky pie dough, and 2) adding an egg to the garlic chive stuffing to reduce indigestion. Both are welcoming improvements.
Ingredients:
500g all purpose flour
3 g salt
140g boiling hot water
140g room temperature water
15g canola oil
油酥: 130g all purpose flour + 60g canola oil, mix well to form dough, then divide into 10 pieces
500 g garlic chives, chopped
100g mung bean vermicelli, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, and chop
5 eggs + a pinch of salt, scrambled, and chopped roughly
50g dried baby shrimp 虾皮
2 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 raw egg
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
5g salt
Instructions:
Mix flour with 3g salt
First mix in 140g boiling water, and then mix in 140 room temperature water to form dough, adding 15g oil midway through
Knead dough until smooth, and let dough (covered) rest in bowel for 30 minutes
Knead dough slightly, divide into 10 portions, form 10 balls, brush top with oil, cover with saran wrap, and let rest for 1 hour
Mix chopped garlic leeks, scrambled eggs, chopped vermicelli, chopped ginger, and dried baby shrimp in separate bowl and set aside
Roll out one small dough, wrap and seal one pastry ball 油酥球 inside, flatten the combined dough ball in to an oval shape, and roll up the flattened dough like a tootsie roll, and set aside
Repeat with the other 9 pieces of dough, and cover all the pieces and let rest for 10 minutes
Flatten out the first tootsie roll length-wise, roll up the flattened dough like a tootsie roll, set aside
Repeat with the rest, and set everything aside for another 10 minutes (see illustration in this video)
Now add raw egg, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and salt to garlic chive mixture, adjust saltiness (a bit salty is better)
Immediately roll out each rested dough into flat rounds, stuff in 1/10 of the filling, fold 1/2 round dough like a dumpling, and seal the edges
Repeat with the rest of the dough
Add plenty of oil to flat cast iron pan over medium heat, cook stuffed leek pie for about 15 minutes, flipping every 2-3 minutes
Note:
