VIRAL Chinese Beef Roti / Guo Kui (锅盔)
tbh it's giving Chinese version of murtabak??
we’ve been following the VIRALITY of this Chinese meat-stuffed pastry, from seeing the crowds at the Mon Beef Roti spots in Kuala Lumpur to its prevalence in the Ramadan bazaars in Singapore! needless to say, it’s TIME we try making our own ones in the nOm kitchen.
while it is more popular known as ‘beef roti’, in Malaysia & SG, introduced by Hui Chinese-Muslim immigrants, it is commonly called ‘Guo Kui’ (锅盔) in parts of China & is a popular street food. to us, the pastry resembles a crispy prata dough. could this might as well be the mainland Chinese version of Murtabak??
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Chinese Beef Roti (锅盔)
(makes 6 pcs)
bread dough:
300g all purpose flour
150ml hot water
40g oil
1/2 tsp salt
filling:
500g minced beef
3 tbsp oil
3 sprigs spring onion, sliced
1 medium red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
15g ginger, grated
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 tbsp light soy sauce
salt & white pepper, to taste
oil, for shallow-frying
fragrant chilli oil:
500ml oil
aromatics
3 star anise
12 cloves
3 pods black cardamom (optional)
1 cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 medium red onion, quartered
5 cloves garlic, smashed
3 spring onion, whole
120g chilli flakes
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp MSG / mushroom seasoning (optional)
directions
to make the dough, whisk together hot water with salt and oil in a bowl. add the flour and mix with a wooden spoon into a shaggy dough. turn it over onto a well-oiled counter top and knead and it becomes an elastic and homogeneous dough. wrap in cling film and let rest for 30 minutes.
portion the dough into 80g pieces and roll into logs, about 6cm long. place in a bowl/container and drizzle liberally with oil on top to coat. let it rest again for 20 minutes.
meanwhile, to prepare the filling, heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan. sauté the onion, spring onion, ginger & garlic until translucent. add the five spices, soy sauce & salt and mix well. remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
add the seasoning mix to the minced beef and mix together with your hand to combine.
position a piece of dough ‘log’ vertically on the counter. using your fingers, press onto the dough and stretch it out into a long oval sheet. pull the edges out to make the sheet as thin as possible without tearing.
portion 85-100g of filling onto the bottom part of the sheet. fold the sheet over to encapsulate the filling. then, roll tightly like a spring roll, all the way to the top end. repeat with the other dough pieces.
let them rest for another 15 minutes. then, turn a piece over so that the spiral part faces on top. using your palm, flatten the dough to about 2-inch thick, resembling a disk. repeat with the other pieces.
in a pan, heat enough oil for shallow frying. fry the ‘Guo Kui’ on both sides until golden brown & crispy. drain on a paper towel or metal rack. serve with chilli oil or have them as they are.
making the fragrant chilli oilcombine oil with all the aromatics in a saucepan. turn the heat up to low-medium and let the aromatics infuse into the oil for about 20 minutes. once the onion starts becoming golden, remove from heat & strain the oil through a sieve, discarding all the aromatics.
return oil into saucepan and heat up to about 180 deg Celsius.
in a bowl combine chilli flakes, sugar, salt and MSG. pour the hot oil onto the mixture and let it sizzle for 10 seconds. then, stir the oil and ingredients evenly. the chilli oil can be kept in a bottle and eaten with the beef roti.
if you have extra minced beef on hand, we’ve got the perfect recipes for you!:
