CHAR SIU

Sweet, sinful goodness

I love a well made char siu. But it costs a bomb. Good thing too, because eating that sweet, slightly fatty meat with lots of sugar and maltose every day will give me a heart attack or/and diabetes sooner, if not later. Not like I've not had a heart attack before, but it's better to be safe than sorry. 

I came across this recipe on a site called Rasa Malaysia and changed the sugar content to suit my taste. Those of you who like sweet char siu can add more sugar. As for me, I used less sugar but added a basting of honey towards the end of the cooking process. What you see in the picture is only 250g of meat, just about enough for me, but the recipe that I'm sharing is for 500g of meat. So here goes!

Some of the ingredients

500g pork belly, skin off and cut into two lengthwise
1 tablespoon maltose
7 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 cubes of chinese fermented red bean curd
1 tablespoon of chinese Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon of chinese five spice powder
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of honey

Method

In a ziploc bag, put all the ingredients in and mix well.
Add the pork and seal the bag, letting out as much air as possible. This is so the meat is totally covered by the marinade.
Put the bag in the fridge and let it marinade for one to two days.

ready for the fridge

Since i'm only doing 250g, I'll use the oven toaster

Cooking time

For tender, melt in the mouth char siu, you need to grill it low and slow.
Put the marinated meat in an oven at 180 degree celsius for 30mins.
Lower the temperature to 150 degree celsius and continue grilling for 20mins.
Increase the temperature to 180 degree celsius and grill for 10mins.

Take the meat out, baste with honey, increase the temperature to 200 degree celsius and let it cook for a further 5 to 10mins

When it's done, leave the meat to sit for 15mins before cutting it into chunky slices and serve.

Notice I'm just using my trusty oven toaster. You don't need any fancy equipment in the kitchen, and since I'm only making one portion, this serves it's purpose to a T. This oven toaster has also made ikan bakar, steamed fish BBQ chicken wings and lots of other small portioned food. It's the perfect thing to have in the kitchen!

Enjoy!