Summer Time and the livin is easy...

It's a scorcher of a summer so far... at least it is now, after a tentative rather wet and cool start. With temps reaching 38C and our apartment catching the full brunt of the afternoon sun - we could be excuse for thinking we were back in the tropics.

Nearly... but thankfully not as hot! Strangely, this heat has fired an appetite for hot and spicy Asian food. Kimchi, Nasi Lemak...  curries with home made prata (Thanks to excellent instruction on Dr Tay's blog)

Roasted Char Siu

Anyhow, inspired by a recent FB post, we had a sudden longing for char siu  (叉燒 ) or chinese BBQ pork. I've never really been a fan of it because most of the time it is either dry and tasteless or covered with a lurid red dye. I do remember with fondness that it was one of the first things I remember my mother cooking and it seemed appropriate that I remember her on her birthday by cooking this. And she did make a really delicious version of it, moist and tender with crispy burnt bits that we all vied for as children.

I chose shoulder butt as it has a good mix of fat and lean - you need a bit of fat to keep the meat moist - and it mostly gets rendered out during the cooking anyway.

This recipe is best prepared the day before, so that the marinade has time to work its magic.

Ingredients:

• 1kg pork - cut into long strips about 3cm thick
• 2 Tabsp honey
• 2 Tabsp Hoisin Sauce
• 1.5 Tab dark soy sauce / kicap manis
• 1.5 Tab light soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 Tabsp sesame oil
• 1 Tabsp Hungarian sweet paprika (for sweetness and colour)

Method:
Day before:

1. combine all the ingredients together in a non reactive bowl
2. place the pork strips into a large Ziploc bag
3. add 3/4 of the marinade into the bag and mix well to coat the pork
4. place in fridge overnight (or at least 4-6h)

Next day:

1. preheat oven to 350F
2. place a rack over a deep (2cm) baking tray and fill the tray with about 1cm of water
3. place pork strips on rack and place tray in the middle shelf of oven
4. roast for 45min

Reserved sticky sweet savoury marindae

Turn oven off and turn grill on

1. remove pork from oven and baste with reserved marinade and grill for 5min till nicely brown 
2. take pork out, turn over and baste again, grill other side for another 5min

Watch the meat! the sweet marinade leads to easy charring - but we do want a bit of that yes?

Once nicely brown, take the meat out, let it rest whilst you prepare the gravy

Pour meat juices into a saucepan and add the remaining marinade, reduce and season to taste - you made need to add a bit more soy sauce, some may wish to use a touch of cornflour to thicken and give it a sheen.

Slice pork as thick or thin as you desire, serve of fragrant steamed Thai jasmine rice. Mangia!

Char Siu Rice anyone?