Airfried Teochew meat rolls (Bak tiao)

There are different versions of this meat roll depending on the Chinese dialect group they come from, and while some use pork, fish can also be used, but there are even dedicated liver rolls. The more famous version is the Hokkien version that uses pork and five spice called gor hiong 五香 but I'm not particularly keen on the taste of the spice. It also comes fried or steamed, which is more common in Dim Sum. What's common however is the use of beancurd skin. I usually buy the refrigerated beancurd skin rather than the dried one, which needs to be rehydrated but ends up a lot more fragile and prone to tearing compared to the fridged one. Other than pork mince, the ingredients are entirely personal preference. I like adding everything I can get my hands on in my store cupboard, I use it as an excuse to clear out my dried and canned goods.

Ingredients (makes 16 rolls)

1 packet of refrigerated beancurd skins (*Avoid using dried beancurd skins)

500g minced pork

2 or 3 big pieces of wooden ear, soaked

15 water chestnuts, peeled and chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Thumb sized ginger, grated

3 spring onions, chopped

300g prawns, roughly chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled and shredded finely

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp five spice powder

Dash of pepper

2 eggs, beaten

Oil (for brushing)

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients except the water and tapioca starch, carrots, and water chestnuts. Mix well and then knead until it becomes a thick paste. Set aside in the fridge to marinade for 1 to 2 hours.

2. Prepare the beancurd skins. Cut to size (approx 25cm by 20cm). 

3. After marinading, add the water chestnuts and carrots and mix them in.

4. Prepare the starch solution by mixing the water and tapioca starch

5. Place 2 to 3 tbsp of the mixture near one of the short edges. Fashion it into a cigar shape. 

6. Apply the beaten egg to the edges of the bean curd skin. Fold the sides in over the meat and roll. Apply more egg wash as needed. Roll tightly and ensure that there are no trapped bubbles.

7. Lay flat on a steaming tray, do not stack on top of each other. 

8. Steam for 7 minutes until cooked. Remove from the steamer and let it cool down completely (e.g., stick it in the fridge overnight). They also freeze well.

9. Air fry at 220 deg C for 10 to 12 minutes, turning halfway. If airfrying from frozen, it will take 12 - 14 minutes.

Try 1: I tried airfrying without steaming and these were the results. I was told that it's because the meat and beancurd skin cook at different rates, so I cannot omit the steaming step!

*Try 2: This time, I did steam, but cheated because I used the microwave and steamed for 4 minutes. This picture shows after steaming. It's a bad idea to use rehydrated dried bean curd skins (see bottom rolls in the second picture) as they're very brittle to begin with. After briefly dunking the dried beancurd skins in hot water to rehydrate, the skins then tore and fell apart when I tried to wrap and roll!

After steaming for 4 mins in microwave: Fridged beancurd skin are the top 2 rolls and rehydrated beancurd skin are the bottom 2 rolls

After brushing with oil and airfrying for 12 mins: Bottom and left are fridged beancurd skins; cut open and the one under it are the rehydrated skin

Verdict: The fridged skins were very easy to work with and roll but after airfying, the skin became chewy rather than crispy. The dried beancurd skins were horrible to work with but perhaps I used the type meant for dessert! The texture however was correct, flakey, puffy and crispy!

Update: a good video recipe by Spice N' Pans of the Teochew prawn version with tips on how to get a qq texture and how to roll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GytLQLkkAjk

Update: Improved recipe: https://simmetra.blogspot.com/2020/09/airfried-taiwanese-beancurd-rolls.html