Juntun Guokui (Sichuan Flaky Pork Pastry)

Ingredients

• 500g plain flour, for the dough
• 300ml warm water
• 1 tsp fine salt, for the dough
• 60g lard, softened
• 60g plain flour, for the oil paste
• 1 tsp ground roasted Sichuan pepper, for the oil paste
• 1/2 tsp fine salt, for the oil paste
• 300g minced pork belly
• 2 tsp ground roasted Sichuan pepper, for the filling
• 1 tsp fine salt, for the filling
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp five-spice powder
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• 20g ginger, finely grated
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 5 tbsp rapeseed oil, for frying

Before you cook

• Mix the 500g of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and the warm water to a soft dough, then knead it for 8 minutes until smooth.
• Cover the dough and let it rest for 1 hour, which is what makes it stretchy enough to coil.
• Rub the softened lard into the 60g of flour with 1 teaspoon of ground Sichuan pepper and half a teaspoon of salt, to make a spreadable oil paste.
• Beat the minced pork with the ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, the five-spice and 2 teaspoons of ground Sichuan pepper until sticky, then fold in the spring onions.

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 200C and slide a baking tray onto the middle shelf.
2. Divide the rested dough into six pieces and keep them covered.
3. Roll one piece out on an oiled surface into a long oval, as thin as you can get it.
4. Spread a thin layer of the oil paste right across the dough.
5. Lay a sixth of the pork filling along the near long edge in a strip.
6. Roll the dough up tightly from that edge into a long rope.
7. Stretch the rope gently until it is about twice as long.
8. Coil the rope into a flat spiral and tuck the end underneath.
9. Press the spiral down with your palm, then roll it out into a disc about 12cm across and 1cm thick.
10. Shape the remaining five pieces the same way and let them rest for 10 minutes.
11. Heat 3 tablespoons of the rapeseed oil in a heavy frying pan over medium heat.
12. Lay in three of the pastries and fry them for 3 minutes, until the underside is patched with gold.
13. Turn them over and fry the other side for 3 minutes.
14. Transfer the fried pastries straight onto the hot tray in the oven.
15. Bake them for 8 minutes, until they puff and the edges look dry and flaky.
16. Fry and then bake the remaining three in the same way.
17. Rest them on a rack for 2 minutes so the steam escapes and the crust stays crisp.
18. Cut each one in half and eat them hot, ideally with a bowl of soup.