Char Siu (Chinese BBQ pork) is probably the one thing I think of when someone says “Chinese food”. I never knew that the red colour comes from food dye – I always assumed there was an ingredient that gave it that red colour. Still, I opted to use the dye as it looks so much more appealing!
Best cooked over an open flame but if you’re roasting it in the oven, try to char the outside a little if you can – it really adds to the flavour.
INGREDIENTS:
- 500g pork belly or shoulder (can use fillet)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 + 1/2 tbsp oil
Char Siu Sauce:
- 1 + 1/2 tbsp maltose (if you can find it, apparently the ‘secret’)
- 1 + 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 + 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 + 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese rose wine (or rice wine)
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 3 drops red coloring (optional)
- 1/2 tsp five-spice powder
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
METHOD:
- Add all ingredients in the char siu sauce in a sauce pan, heat it up and stir-well until all blended and become slightly thickened and sticky. (It will yield 1/2 cup char siu sauce.) Pour it into a bowl and let cool.
- Marinate the pork pieces with 2/3 of the char siu sauce and the chopped garlic overnight. Add 1 1/2 tbsp oil into the remaining char siu sauce. Keep in the fridge.
- The next day, heat the oven to 200°C and roast the char siu for 20 minutes (shake off the excess char siu sauce before roasting).
- Transfer them out of the oven and thread the char siu pieces on metal skewers and grill them over fire (you can use your stove top).
- Brush the remaining char siu sauce while grilling until the char siu are perfectly charred.
- Slice the char siu into bite-size pieces, drizzle the remaining char siu sauce over and serve immediately with steamed white rice.