Serves 4
Preparation & Cooking Time: 45 minutes (excluding the overnight marinating)
Ingredients:
- 500g pork loin, belly or butt cut into 4 pieces
Char Siew Sauce:
- 1 1/2 tablespoons maltose
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rose wine or regular shaoxing Chinese rice wine (玫瑰露酒)
- 1/2 tablespoon hoisin sauce (海鲜酱)
- 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder (五香粉)
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 3 clove garlic pressed
- 1 shallot onion pressed (optional)
Directions:
1. If you find it hard to work with the maltose (to sticky to stir), heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds.
2. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and add pressed garlic and shallots into the sauce and stir well.
3. Marinate the pork pieces with the char siew sauce and leave it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes or preferrably overnight.
4. Heat the oven to fan grill setting at temperature 190°C (or 375°F).
5. Lay the pork on a rack and spread foil on the bottom for easier cleaning and roast the char siew pork for 30 minutes. If you bother, it’s best to use the S-shape hooks and hang the char siew pork at the top layer of the oven to get an even roasting, with a roasting pan or aluminum foil sheet at the bottom for the drips. But I am too lazy, I just put it in an oven-proof dish. Since it is marinated with maltose and honey, keep an eye on the pork and the oven heat as it may burnt easily. Turn down the oven temperature if needed. Need to brush the pork with marinate or baste occasionally to keep the meat moist.
5. Serve immediately with steamed white rice or egg noodles and some green vegetables such as choy sum.
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Additional Information:
This is a quick and easy recipe for the time-pressed modern working woman. However, if you wish to follow a more traditional recipe, you will need to heat up the sauce until thickened (see references for details). I do not see the need as maltose at room temperature is very thick already. In the traditional recipe, you may want to grill them over fire on stove top. I prefer to use the oven all the way. The maltose is the ingredient that gives the char siew that sticky sweet taste and texture.
One of Daddy's absolute favourite food in Singapore is char siew pork (char siew in Cantonese means roasted on a fork). So I have decided that I have got to try making it myself! Since it is hard to get choy sum in Denmark, I will serve with some steam broccoli instead.
Use pork loin for a healthier leaner meaty version, but if you prefer for char siew pork super tender, moist and fatty, you can use pork belly or pork butt.
The pork I bought from the Danish supermarket came tied with string as seen in the picture, but you do not need to do that.
I won't classify this as a healthy dish though due to the loads of maltose and honey used in the marinate. Although it is Daddy's favourite food, he highlighted this too, and thus we restrict ourselves. Daddy actually likes the more leaner version better. So this is only a treat that we eat once in a while.
References:
http://rasamalaysia.com/bbq-pork-recipe-char-siu/
http://www.meltingwok.com/labels/side%20pork%20belly.html
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