Chinese Meat Pies (Xian Bing/馅饼)

Prepare the dough

1. Put flour into a mixing bowl. Pour hot water over then mix with chopsticks. Add room temperature water and cooking oil. Stir well then combine and knead with hands.
2. As soon as a cohesive dough forms (it doesn’t need to look smooth), cover it and let it rest for 20 minutes.
3. Knead the dough again until it becomes smooth. Coat the work surface and your hands with a little oil to prevent sticking. Roll the dough into a log then cut it into 8 equal portions.
4. Shape each piece into a ball, making sure it’s lightly coated with oil from your hands. Cover them with plastic wrap, then leave to rest for a further 10 minutes.

Mix the filling

1. While waiting for the dough to rest, prepare the filling by adding all the ingredients (meat, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, five-spice, white pepper, and water) into a mixing bowl. Stir with chopsticks in one direction until the mixture becomes sticky.

Assemble

1. Put a piece of dough on the work surface. Flatten it into a disc with your fingers, about ⅕ inch (½ cm) thick.
2. Hold the wrapper with your non-dominant hand. Place ⅛ of the filling over the wrapper. Use the thumb and index finger of your dominant hand to pleat the dough to wrap the filling tightly, while using the thumb of your non-dominant hand to push the filling inwards. Seal the dough securely in the middle (please refer to the video tutorial below).
3. Place the assembled pie on an oiled tray. Repeat the procedure to shape other pies.

Pan-fry

1. In a heavy-bottomed skillet/frying pan, heat oil enough to cover the surface. Gently put inthe stuffed dough balls and flatten them into discs with your fingers or a spatula, about 1 inch (2½ cm) thick (see note 2).
2. Leave to fry over low heat until the first side becomes golden. Flip over the pies and cover the skillet with a lid. Fry until the other side browns. Flip again to further crisp the first side for 20 seconds or so.

Make ahead

1. Flatten stuffed dough balls into discs. Lay them over a tray and freeze until solid. Transfer frozen pies into airtight bags. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
2. Without defrosting, pan-fry frozen pies in a little oil over medium-low heat, with the lid on all the time, until both sides turn golden.