Char Siu is one of the popular dish in a cantonese dim sum restaurant. It is mostly a favourite dish either for the young or old. The added charred bits in the pork barbecue adds extra flavour that you simply can’t resist.
I have made a couple of tries in making char siu, by far this is my best recipe. I will continue to update my recipe should I make something better than this. 🙂
Ingredients
- 1kg pork shoulder or skinless pork belly
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 5 tbs maltose
- 3 tbs hoisin sauce
- 1 tbs hua tiao chiew
- 1 tbs rose cooking wine ( just substitute to Hua Tiao Chiew if you can’t get this kind of wine in your country, this wine has a higher alcohol content than the Hua tiao chiew)
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 3 tbs oyster sauce (updated , it used to be 2tbs)
- 1 tsp 5 spice powder
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 pcs star anise
- 1.5 tsp red yeast powder
Method
- Prepare the sauce by pouring 1/4 cup of hot water on a small sauce pot/pan. Dip your tablespoon with maltose onto the hot water, and use another spoon to remove the maltose from the spoon to the hot water. The hot water eases a bit in removing it, as maltose is extremely sticky. Pour the rest of the ingredients (except the pork) and turn on the fire at medium low heat, stir until the red yeast powder and maltose are all dissolved and well combined. Set aside.
- Slice the meat to strips, about 1.5″ x 8″
- Poke holes on the meat.
- Place the meat in a container, pour the marinade onto the meat, and coat it evenly. Cover and keep in the chiller at least overnight. Preferably use air-tight container
- Preheat the oven at 200 degree celsius
- Cover the dripping tray with aluminium foil, this is to catch the charred sauce on the tray to ease cleaning
- Place the meat on the wire rack, brush with oil
- Bake for 20-25 minutes and brush with the leftover marinate every 10 minutes
- Set to grill mode, grill for 15-20 minutes, brush with the marinate every 5 minutes
- You can use blow torch if you want extra charred
- heat up the remaining sauce and let it come boil. Skim the froth and strain any remaining star anise or garlic bits in the sauce. You can use this sauce to drizzle on the meat or on your rice.
Note : a little bit more fatty on the meat is good, this will keep your barbecue juicy . I have tried lowering down the quantity of maltose, however the taste is not sweet enough hence I increase to 5 tablespoon for the recipe.
Give enough spacing between each slice of meat to allow heat circulation to cook through the meat. If your slices are bigger or thicker, please adjust the timing.
sticky maltose 
marinate after heating it up 
Made it with skinless pork belly
Geraldine's decadent and savoury adventure 