Name: Simple Xi’An Beef Burgers
Yield: Serves 4 as a main, 8 as a snack
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon sesame oil; oil, to brown each side; ½ teaspoon sugar; 500 g plain flour; 1 teaspoon peppercorns (preferably Sichuan); 1 teaspoon fennel seeds; 500 g beef flank; small stick of cinnamon; 3 cm fresh ginger, sliced; 1 star anise; 1 teaspoon salt; 1½ teaspoons chilli flakes; 1½ tablespoons soy sauce; ½ teaspoon yeast

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a main as a snack

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Brick Lane Cookbook

By Dina Begum

Published 2018

About

Biang founders Fan, Renxiang and Wen described these as the Chinese equivalent of burgers, but I think they’re a bit more special than that. An inexpensive cut of meat is stewed in an aromatic broth of Chinese spices until meltingly tender and soft, then stuffed into soft, homemade buns. Fan is keen to stress that this recipe is a simplified version (in case purists are reading!) but the taste is anything but.