Week 44

Chinese

After a night out with the girls which started at home with a bottle “Two Tails Villard Blanc” and ended in the early hours of the morning, I have decided to dedicate this week’s cookbook challenge to my gorgeous husband, who I love dearly. This is the man who answers the call of his drunken wife to “come out and play,” & puts me to bed with panadol and a glass of water at the end of the night.  What a man!!

As a measure of my love I have chosen his favourite Chinese dishes to prepare.  Hubby loves steamed pork buns but we can only get them when we go to Sydney, so they are a bit of a treat.

Whilst researching on the internet I have discovered these will be a labour of love as the first step to making the bun is Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork) which I can’t buy here and will have to be made from scratch.

Thanks to Rasa Malayasia I found a really a good recipe for Char Siu.  I have made a few modifications to ingredients and method but it is basically straight from this website http://rasamalaysia.com. There are so many other yummy recipes to be found so check it out.

I have made double quantity of the recipe given below so we can have the Char Siu as a meal and then have enough BBQ Pork left over to make the dumplings.  So here is the first of my Chinese Banquet in honour of my dear husband.

 Ingredients: 

1 kg pork (loin cut into large pieces)
6 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil

Char Siu Sauce

3 tablespoons maltose/ glucose
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon Chinese Shaoxing
5 dashes white pepper powder
6 drops red coloring (optional)
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method:

Combine all of the char siu sauce ingredients in a sauce pan, heat and stir until blended and becomes slightly thickened and sticky.

Cut pork into about 6 to 8 large peices. Use 2/3 of the sauce to marinade the pork.  Add the chopped garlic to the pork, ensure the meat is well covered in marinade and refrigerate overnight.

Put remaining marinade in the fridge in a separate container.

Next day, heat the oven to 160 degree.  Put the pork into an oven bag and cook for 20 minutes. Check to see if the pork is cooked by slicing the meat.

When the meat is just cooked, remove from the oven bag and drain any juices.

Heat a wok or frying pan with sesame oil and add the cooked pork. Pour the remaining marinade over the pork and continue to turn until the pork is well coated and the sauce is lovely and sticky. Serve with rice. Yum.

This was the most delicious dish I have ever cooked.  The place smelt like a Chinese Restaurant. The meat was tender and juicy and the sauce was sweet, salty, sticky and mouthwaterly amazing.  It is definitely work the effort.

 Give it a go and let me know what you think.