Chinese Chive Pockets with Fermented Dough

Taste: Other; Cooking Method: Pan-fried; Time: Several hours; Difficulty: Moderate.

Detailed Steps for Making Chinese Chive Pockets with Fermented Dough

When eating Chinese chives at home, be sure to remove old and rotten leaves. Usually, chives sold on the street are just rinsed off the soil and used as filling. Clean the chives, chop them directly, then mix with vegetable oil. Do not add salt at this point. Salt should be added right before wrapping, otherwise the salt will draw out the moisture from the chives, affecting their freshness. This is crucial.

Beat the eggs by hand, add a little salt and stir until the salt is dissolved for later use.

Stir-fry the beaten eggs in hot oil over medium heat. Try to break up the eggs a bit for easier filling.

Place the flour in a bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water, gradually add the yeast water while stirring, knead the dough, cover it and let it ferment. It’s best to let it ferment in a warm place. In this season, fermentation takes between 90 to 120 minutes. The bowl shown here contains well-fermented dough with many air bubbles.

Pour the fermented dough onto a cutting board, sprinkle with baking soda and knead the dough. After kneading, cover the dough with a bowl, seal it, and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

After resting, knead the dough again. If the dough is too large, divide it into two portions. After kneading, let the dough rest for another 10 minutes.

Take a portion of the dough, roll it into a long strip, and divide it into small dough pieces for making the dough skins.

When rolling out the dough skins, make sure the edges are thin while the center is slightly thicker. This way, when wrapping the filling, the dough won’t tear easily.

Now, let’s focus on mixing the filling. Mix the chive filling with oil first to retain the chive’s moisture. Then, add salt and dried shrimp to the mixture. Take a dough skin and add an appropriate amount of filling.

When sealing the edges of the pockets, the smaller the better, but make sure they are securely sealed. As you can see, the dough skin is thin on all sides, making the edges of the pockets thin as well. Press down on the center of the pocket once it’s filled.

Use low heat to pan-fry the pockets, adding more oil. Place the pockets in the pan, press down on the center, where the dough is thicker, to prevent it from breaking. Once one side is cooked, flip it over and add a little water to the pan. Cover with a lid and continue cooking over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes until fully cooked. You can then turn off the heat. This method ensures the pockets are well-cooked and not burnt.

How simple are these pockets? Have you learned how to make them? Let’s share the joy of cooking together.