hello, hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to wonderfully weird and strange world of Chinese fusion cuisine with a shot at a dish from the Woo Can Cook pop up menu, which are these Taiwanese “sloppy joe” sliders. For those unfamiliar, in this series we have been taking iconically chinese and taiwanese dishes that come from more traditional wok cooking, then smashing them head first into any number of other cuisines. More specifically today, we’ll be taking this Taiwanese slow braised minced pork our “rou zao fan,” served as a sloppy joe style slider in a hawaiian sweet roll, then finally finished with some korean sweet pickled daikon.
As you might guess, a rou zao fan (or colloquially, simply “rou fan”) is more traditionally served over rice, often in a family style meal with a few other dishes. Today though, I thought it would be fun to exercise some creative liberties, and thicken up the sauce to our rou fan just a touch more than we normally would, giving the finished dish more of a chili-like consistency, which is perfect for, you guessed it, a sloppy joe. Finally, just to make this all a little bit more complicated, we’ll be topping our sliders today with a korean pickled daikon, for that crisp, bright finish that’s essential to any sloppy joe. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger
4-6 shiitake mushrooms
20 pickled daikon coins
1lb ground pork
12 Hawaiian sweet rolls
corn starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in water)
INGREDIENTS (dry spices)
1 cinnamon stick
4 star anise pods
4 Tian Jin peppers
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
1/2 tsp corn starch
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
PREP
CRUSH and mince 4 cloves of garlic, set aside
MINCE ginger, set aside
SLICE the daikon into coins, set aside
REHYDRATE the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water for 10-15 minutes until tender, then remove and reserve water
SLICE the mushrooms into strips and set aside
COMBINE ground pork with all marinade ingredients, then let marinate for 30 minutes
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok over medium low heat, then add the dry spices and toast for 2-3 minutes until fragrant
REMOVE the spices to cheese cloth or a spice bag, then set aside
HEAT the wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic and ginger and saute for 15 seconds until fragrant
ADD the ground pork, break up any large clumps, then saute for 2-3 minutes
DEGLAZE with reserved mushroom water
ADD braising sauce, mushrooms, and spice bag, then let simmer over low heat for a minimum of 2 hours, or up to 6 hours, adding additional water as needed
ADD corn starch slurry until desired thickness is reached, then remove from heat
SPLIT open the Hawaiian sweet rolls, then add the rou fan, and finish with pickled daikon coins