Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Char Siew
30-SEP-2008:
I made Char Siew today. Yum! It doesn't really taste like the most authentic Char Siew but it's Char Siew alright. The meat is too lean and is not the right cut. I was looking for pork belly but couldn't find it, so I used pork escalopes instead. The charred parts were delicious though. We're going to have Char Siew Noodle for dinner tonight. I hope I don't munch away half of the Char Siew before it's dinner time.
So here's the recipe that I found from someone's blog on the Internet:
Ingredients:
- 500g pork - cut into 2 inches strips and score the strips(belly pork or marbled)
Seasonings:
- 2½ tbsp Hoisin sauce - I substitued with 1 tbsp of plum sauce. Don't know why I did but I didn't have Hoisin sauce and I thought plum sauce "tastes" right.
- 1 tsp garlic powder - I used chopped garlic instead
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/4 -1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp wine - Mui Kai Lo - I used Shao Xing wine
- 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Dash of pepper
Glaze:
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp honey or maltose
1 tbsp oil
Method:
- Marinade pork with seasonings for 2 hours.(optional). Pork can be baked as soon as it is marinated.
- Line a baking tray or stainless steel dish with aluminium foil. Transfer marinated pork on to it and cover with foil.
- Bake char siew at 220 C/425 F for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Open the top foil and bake again until gravy thickens and coat the pork.
- Alternatively, cook pork together with the marinade in a wok until the gravy thickens. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. (In fact, this is what I did)
- Preheat grill and grill the pork until it is charred(not burnt), turning all the time for even grilling.
- Dip into glaze and return pork to grill just for a short while, enough to give pork a shine.
