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?

Scrumptious Braised Pork Belly

Savoury porky stuff - Pork belly braised in Aromatic Soy Sauce

Recently I had braces put it (yeah, yeah, in adulthood) and everytime my orthodontist tightens them, I scratch my head and think of food that isnt a challenge to tender teeth. One can only eat so much whizzed up broccoli soup, pumpkin soup... Watties tinned Spaghetti (horror! - but hey, it isnt that bad, especially when I am at work and have to inhale my lunch in 5 minutes). A good Asian alternative is rice porridge accompanied by something nice and savoury... like Pork belly braised in Aromatic Soy Sauce


Ingredients:

0.5kg Pork Belly

8 dried shitake mushrooms
1/4 cup each dark & light soy sauce
1 cup water
2 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 whole star anise
4 cardamom pods
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp white peppercorns
pinch of sugar
2 pieces hard tofu (tau kwa) cut into half

Method:

• Cut pork belly into inch wide strips, after making sure that all gristlehas been removed
• Wash dried shitake mushrooms and trim stems off (you can keep them for making soup stock)
• Place all ingredients into a pot, bring to boil then transfer to a slow cooker and braise at very low heat till meat is tender (about 2h)
• Remove meat, mushrooms and tofu
• Strain sauce to remove spices, season to taste
• Slice meat into 5mm thick slices (or however thick you like them), tofu into 2cm thick slices, arrange on plate, with meat and mushrooms
• Serve Sauce alongside

Porky feast

Last Saturday, we threw a surprise birthday party for a friend. Since one of her favourite foods was belly pork, sio bak (chinese roast pork) and fried hokkien noodles (with pork!) was on the menu. Went to Cold Storage in United Square early Friday morning and a really friendly, upbeat young butcher (hmm.. dishy?) sold us a beautiful slab of belly pork. Quite lean, with just the right amount of fat to prevent it from drying out during roasting. Making sio bak is actually not that difficult, contrary to popular belief. It just takes a bit of planning and meticulous detail to preparation. A good hot oven is also essential.

Ingredients:

• Belly pork, 1kg
• 5 spice powder
• coriander powder
• coarse salt
• white pepper

You'll need to wash and pat dry the pork, score the skin deep (down to the fat). I prefer to score it to tiny diamond shapes about 2 mm wide. This helps to produce good crackling.
Rub the meat and skin all over with spice and salt mixture. Wrap the meat (bottom and sides) with cling film, leaving skin exposed.
Place in fridge overnight for skin to dry out. (a dry skin is essential for crisp crackling)
Next day, bring pork out and let it come to room temperature for an hour before roasting.
Pre-heat the oven to 200C
Place pork on a roasting rack, cover skin with a thick (5mm) layer of salt*
Roast pork in centre of oven for 50min
At the end of the 1st hour, take pork out, scrape off the salt, wipe the skin with kitchen paper and prick it all over again with a sharp knife or metal skewer.
Return to oven and roast for another 1h 20min (during the last 15min of this roasting period, the skin will start to to sizzle, crackle and pop - this is your reward for all that tedious scoring and salting) Remove from oven, let cool before cutting into slices.
Eat & Enjoy !! (and exercise the next day!)

*It sounds like a lot of salt, but most of it is removed and does not add significantly to the saltiness of the roast. If it is a concern, use less for the spice rub.

Oh yes, we also used a small portion of that slab to make the essential boiled pork slices that go into traditional fried hokkien mee.