[Recipe] Minced Pork Rolls (Ngoh Hiang/ Loh Bak) Using Airfryer

April 16, 2017 The Hedgehog Knows 0 Comments A⁺ a^-

As you can probably tell from my recipes on The Hedgehog Knows, I am not really a meat-eater (and have a sweet tooth for sure). But something I really enjoy is my mother-in-law's famous homemade Minced Pork Rolls or Ngoh Hiang (五香)/ Loh Bak (卤肉) in Chinese dialect. I love how the crunchy water chestnut bits are juxtaposed against the sweet carrots within the minced pork and held together in bean skin, yielding a taste that is overall juicy and not overwhemingly "meaty".

A bit of history about this dish, it is a uniquely Hokkien/ Teochew dish. Available in many Southeast Asian countries, the dish is often localised so there are many recipe variations around - with/without prawns, with/without eggs, served with dark sweet sauce/chilli sauce etc. Nonetheless, something common would be the 五香 5-spice powder used, and these 5 spices are star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel seeds.

Do note that the amount of 5-spice powder used in this recipe has been cut back as I am not a keen fan of food with strong (spices) taste, so feel free to adjust the amount to your liking. Likewise, if this powder is not available for sale near your home, you can skip that and replace with your favourite seasoning. Who knows, yours may be the next famous version!

Btw, these rolls can be prepared in advance and frozen until required. After thawing and less-than-25 min of quick airfry, they are ready and still taste as fresh!

Recipe credits go to my mother-in-law. She used to deep-fry these rolls, but now with the airfryer, the oil has been significantly cut back. I am so glad I learnt this from her and can finally share this with you! :)

Minced Pork Rolls (Ngoh Hiang) Using Airfryer

Yield: 7 rolls

Ingredients

(A)
300g minced pork
15 pieces of water chestnut, finely chopped
8 small purple onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
3 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs flour or corn flour
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
7 sheets of dried bean skin (each sheet 20cm X 15cm)

(B)
1/2 tbs corn flour
100ml water

(C)

A little oil (for brushing before airfrying)

Directions

1. Preheat.
Preheat airfryer at 160 degrees for 5 min.

2. Mix.
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients of (A), except the bean skin, well.

Tips: I usually use my hands (using disposable plastic gloves) as it is faster. Also, mixing in 1 direction is recommended (e.g. Just clockwise or anti-clockwise).

3. Prepare the "glue".

In another small bowl, mix ingredients of (B) together. This works like "glue" to seal the edges of the bean skin together later.

4. Fill.

Heap 2 spoonfuls of the (A) fillings and lay them flat onto the beanskin.

5. "Glue".

Brush a layer of the (B) mixture along the 4 sides of the bean skin which is not covered by the meat fillings.

6. Seal.

Fold in the left, right and bottom sides.

7. Roll.

Apply a final layer of (B) at the uppermost side. Then, carefully roll the bean skin upwards, ensuring that the meat is held tightly together. (The final layer of "glue" ensures that the meat is held together properly.)

Tips: After folding the bottom layer up, tuck in the skin so that the ingredients remain tight within the roll and it remains a round roll.

8. Repeat.

Repeat Steps 4 to 7 for the remaining rolls.