Image: Super Food Ideas – August 2011, Page 60. Photographer: Mark O’Meara.

This is a recipe for the lovely, sticky, red-coated pork that you see hanging in Chinese restaurant windows. Char siu is of Cantonese origin where skewers of pork are marinated in a honey, hoisin sauce and then roast in oven to charred, savoury and sticky sweet perfection.

This recipe smells divine as it cooks and is so easy to make. If there is a pork recipe that defines Chinese cooking, I think char siu would be it! And let’s face it, who doesn’t want an excuse to eat pork.

Ingredients

• 1 tbs peanut oil
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 cup of hoi sin sauce
• ¼ cup of light soy sauce
• ¼ cup dry sherry or Chinese shoasing wine or rice wine vinegar
• 1L of chicken stock
• 1kg of pork belly – bones removed
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 tsp Chinese five-spice
• 1 tbs red fermented bean curd – available from Asian grocers
• 3 drops of red food colouring (optional)
• A large pinch of white pepper (optional)
• Serve with steam rice, steamed Asian greens and top with fried shallots

Method

1. Set your pressure cooker to sauté. Add the soy sauce, sherry, stock, bean paste, food colouring, pepper, Chinese-five spice and ¼ cup of hoisin sauce. Allow to cook for five minutes or until slightly thickened.
2. Score the top of the pork cutting through the skin in straight lines at 1-1.5cm intervals. Add the pork to the pressure cooker, turn to coat and submerge in the sauce – dependent on the size of your pressure cooker you may need to cut the pork in half.
3. Set your pressure cooker and allow to cook for 30 minutes on medium heat.
4. Remove the pork from the pressure cooker, allow to mildly cool and cut into 18 even-sized pieces. Reserve the cooking liquid.
5.  Combine the honey, sesame oil, ¼ cup of hoi sin sauce and ¼ cup of cooking liquid in a bowl and set aside.
6. Heat the peanut oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pork and cook for 5-10 minutes, brushing with honey mixture every minute, until golden brown and well coated.
7. Meanwhile, place 1 cup of the cooking liquid in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring to the boil and reduce to simmer for 3-5 minutes or until slightly thickened and almost syrupy.
8. Serve the Char Siu pork with steam rice, steamed Asian green and sauce; top with crispy shallots.

Enjoy!

Related articles

• Tender Char siew (bubbamama.com)
• Char Siu Pork and Noodle Soup (emsfoodforfriends.wordpress.com)
• Sang Choy Bow / Asian Lettuce Cups (dailygluttony.wordpress.com)
• Terry Durack rated Mr Wong as the best Chinese restaurant in Sydney, is it worth the fuss? (thethreeducksdiaries.wordpress.com)
• Asian Glazed Pork Chops (dailygluttony.wordpress.com)
• Totto Ramen (addictedfoodie.wordpress.com)
• Asian Pork Tacos (firstweshop.com)