Char Siu (Chinese Style Barbecue Pork)

Description:
Just moving an old recipe from my blog section.

Char Siu Pork is one of my favorite foods. I remember that my nanny used to buy some for me at the market nearby the house when I was a little girl. Those small strips of red pork meat with sweet and savoury taste.
In Australia, however, I find the pork sometimes having quite a strong smell. Kind of the piggy's body odour. So... when I get it here, I have to be selective where I get it from. The char siu from Sunny's in Carnegie is nice. My husband said the taste was always the same, nice and it is his favorite.

I also had a nice experience having char siu chicken in KL, Malaysia a long time ago. I bought it at a halal food court in a shopping mall. I cannot remember the name of the mall but it is opposite Sungei Wang mall. At first, I ordered for char siu pork to the sale assistant because I did not know that it was a halal food court. He said that he only had chicken there. I was quite sceptical about the taste at first but I was totally wrong. The chicken pieces were very delicious and moist.

Anyway, I am trying here to make my own using pork shoulder. I combined Ci Stella's recipe at http://cikciks.multiply.com/recipes/item/18 (TFS :)) and the recipe from Women's Weekly Chinese Cooking book. For those who do not consume pork, you can use chicken thigh and you may want to replace the wine with apple juice. Here are the ingredients that I put in my version of Char Siu Pork with a kick.



Ingredients:
1 kg pork shoulder, trim the skin and the excess fat or use chicken thigh fillet

2 Tbsp Shao Xing wine
2 Tbsp honey
1.5 Tbsp light soy sauce, Kikoman
1 Tbsp hoisin sauce or charsiu sauce, Lee Kum Kee
0.5 Tbsp fermented soy bean paste, Korean DS brand (tauco)
3 tsp mince garlic
1 tsp sesame oil

1.5 Tbsp caster sugar
3/4 Tbsp salt
1 tsp five spice powder
0.5 tsp white pepper
0.25 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you don't like chilli)

1/3 tsp red food colouring, Queen Pillar Red Box (Put 2-3 drops if you don't want it too red), optional

Glaze:
Honey


Sauce:
Hoisin sauce : Choy Sun Sauce (Oyster Sauce) : Soy Sauce = 2 : 2 : 1
Add a bit of water to slightly thin the sauce



Directions:
1. Slice pork shoulder into strips about 3-4 cm width
2. Mix all seasonings in a bowl until well combined
3. Put the meat in a container, coat the pork meat and marinade for 30 minutes in the fridge
4. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C
5. Take the meat out of the fridge and leave it to room temperature, about 30 minutes
6. Put the meat on the meat rack. Reserve the marinade for basting
7. Roast the meat until done about 30 minutes. Baste the meat with the reserved seasoning every 10 minutes and turn the meat.
*However, do not baste with the reserved marinade once the meat is not to be returned to the oven and cooked.*

8. Glaze with honey and grill for another 5-10 minutes each side.

Roast Chicken with Lemons

Description:
I got the recipe from Jerry, our new friend whom we met him during our holiday in Bunaken Island. This roast chicken is very moist, even the breast meat is still very very moist!!! Really nice to have it with salad or even just by itself.

Mu husband and I had this chicken for our lunch today. Just the chicken. The left over can be used for sandwich filling or stir fry/fried noodle/fried rice.




Ingredients:
Here are the ingredients:

I used one small chicken about 1.5 kg, four medium lemon meyers from the backyard and I sprinkled some sea salt on the skin. The original recipe does not use salt.

If you want to spice up the chicken, you might want to put some garlic, onion, chilli or other herbs and spices.



Directions:
Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Place the oven rack at the middle shelf.

Loosen the skin from the muscles and put lemon slices (about 3 mm thick) in the space between the skin and the muscles (cover the space with lemon slices). Put some lemon quarters in the cavity. Sprinkle some salt on the skin. I foled the wings downside to prevent burning.

Put the breast side down on the roasting tray. Roast for 30 minutes (he said it took 30 minutes per pound). Then, I brushed some of the juice on the upper skin. At this stage, the chicken skin was still pale.

Reposition the rack to the third bottom shelf. Turn on the grill, don't turn off the oven (lower heat) and continue roasting for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the grill on. Grill for another 5 minutes or until the skin is brown.