BAK KWA

Since the Chinese New Year's around the corner, I thought I'd give making Bak Bwa a shot. I always loved this sweet slices of BBQed meat! Can't keep my hands off them! Searched the internet and found that the recipes of Bak Kwa are almost similar to my Char Siu, and since I have all the stuff needed, why not make some?! 

Last year, when i was back in Singapore, they had this Bak Kwa with pieces of pineapple in them. Pork and pineapple is a winning combination. However, I was a little disappointed with it as it seemed that there was not enough pineapple, so since I'm making some, why not add more pineapple pieces? That's the beauty of D.I.Y! And since pineapple mixed with cinnamon tastes excellent, why not season the pineapple bits with cinnamon? Excellent stuff!

Ingredients

500g minced pork (60/40% mix of lean and fat)
8 tablespoons sugar
Half tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon chinese five spice powder
1 tablespoon chinese rice wine
1 cube of red fermented bean curd
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
3 pieces of pineapple bought from the cut fruits stall
Some honey for basting

Method
Roughly chop the pineapple and marinade it with cinnamon powder.
Mix all the other ingredients together and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to marinade
When it's done, spread a thin layer of it on a non stick pan and put it in an oven that is preheated to 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes

The meat will shrink a little after the 10 minutes are up, and there will be a fair bit of liquid on the pan.
Drain the liquid and cut the meat slices into manageable chunks.

For those of you who have a BBQ grill handy, now's the time to break it out! Nothing beats the smoky smell on a Bak Kwa! But unfortunately I don't, so it's back into the oven to get it slightly charred. 
Baste the slices with honey, put it in the oven at 250 degree celsius and take it out when there is a slight charring on the sides

I know it's quite a bit of work for so few slices of Bak Kwa, but the taste is pretty good! If it was finished on a charcoal grill, it would be awesome! 

So, it's not too difficult to D.I.Y. Bak Kwa. Give it a shot! You'd be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to do and how good it tastes too!

Enjoy!