Yummy and easy to prepare homemade Char Siu Pork with a homemade Char Siu Sauce.
Char Siu Pork is also known as Chinese style BBQ pork is famous roasted pork dish. It is featured not only by the yummy taste but also the light red color.In Chinese Char Siu is 叉烧 meaning roasted pork on certain of fork. In traditional Cantonese restaurants, the pork is hooked during the roasting process, which guarantee the uniform heating from different sides. Homemade version can be much simplified and easier. And my homemade version is as yummy as the restaurant style.
As it is so famous outside China, I guess most of you have tested it in Cantonese restaurants. And you may wonder about how this light red color is created. In Cantonese cooking, people make their own Char Siu sauce. The main ingredients for Char Siu sauce contains oyster sauce (for more information about commonly used sauces in Chinese cooking, check Chinese Sauces), soy sauce, sugar, red onions, garlic and red fermented tofu. Red fermented tofu is quite widely used in Cantonese cuisine, either to roast pork or braise pork belly. It is fermented along with red yeast rice. In the following picture, I listed three commonly used coloring ingredients. But essentially, they are the same. Red yeast powder is grounded from red yeast rice. If you really cannot find them, skip this coloring. We are just sacrificing some coloring, no taste difference.
- For light coloring, use red fermented tofu + some of the juice in the bottom(I know lots of you may do not like the taste of fermented tofu. If you never tasted it before, I would recommend trying one cube).
- For middle coloring, use red yeast rice. Pre-soak the rice until soft and use the water.
- For deep coloring, use red yeast powder directly (1/8 teaspoon is recommended) or you can resort to red food coloring.
I tried to search but failed to find where you can find red fermented tofu. If you come across with any possible sourcing, please leave a comment so we can share it with other readers. If the red one is not available, use white fermented tofu or you can skip it (just a slight difference in taste). The remaining ingredients can make your char siu enough yummy too.
You can see a light red color on the edges of the slices form the picture. I marinate the pork for around 30 hours with my homemade Char Siu sauce.
About the meat for this recipe;
In China, the most popular ingredients for char siu is pork butt, sometimes we refer it as pork shoulder. For a fatty taste, you can use pork belly.
About the BBQ sauce;
I use a very basic homemade Char Siu sauce in this recipe. In fact, we have a well made char siu sauce from Lee Kum Kee. Surely, you can use that one directly if you do not want to assemble the sauce at home.
Char Siu-Chinese BBQ Pork
Ingredients
- 300 g pork butt , pork shoulder
- 1 thumb ginger , sliced
- 2 garlic cloves , sliced
Char Siu Sauce
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tablespoon rice wine , rose rice wine is the best
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 red fermented tofu with 1/2 tablespoon of the sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
Brushing
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 tablespoon water
- 1/2 tablespoon char siu sauce
- sesame oil for brushing
Instructions
- Firstly poke some small holes on the pork butt so it can absorb the flavor better. Then cut into 2 cm wide and 4 cm thick long strips. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add red fermented tofu, cooking wine, honey, light soy sauce, oyster sauce and Chinese five spice. Give a big stir-fry to combine well.
- Transfer the pork into a plastic bag and then add ginger and garlic slices. Pour the Char Siu sauce in. Squeeze extra air out and seal. Message the pork for couple of minutes and keep in fridge for 24 to 48 hours.
- Pre-heat oven to 200 degree C (around 400 degree F)
- Before baking, add around 1/2 tablespoon of warm water and 1/2 tablespoon of char siu sauce with 1 tablespoon of honey. Combine well.
- Place the pork on grill and with a layered baking tray. Brush the honey water on both sides.
- Place on middle track and back for 10 minutes. And re-brush the honey mixture on both sides again.
- Roast again on middle track for another 10 minutes. Move the grill to up track and roast for another 2 minutes.
- Transfer out and brush some sesame oil on surface. Cool down for 3-4 minutes and cut into slices.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Hi,
I love your blog and excited to try so many things.
If you did use the ready made char sui from Lee Kum Kee how much would you need to marinate?
Marianne x
Hi Marianne,
Yes, I use Char Siu sauce directly from Lee Kum Kee at the beginning of cooking. It can be a good substitute if the ingredients are hard to collect.
I found rose fermented bean curd (it has rose flavor in it). Is that the kind you mentioned?
Hi Nicholas,
They share the same group but different spice. However I guess rose fermented bean curd can work for Chinese Chai Siu too.
Red fermented tofu can be found at Amazon.com
I just looked at Amazon.com like Gary and I don’t know if this is the correct ingredient, but this is what came up for fermented tofu.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fermented+tofu&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Afermented+tofu
Hi Yoshi,
That’s fermented tofu. But the one I am using in this recipe is fermented tofu with red yeast rice. They share a similar taste but different color. If fermented tofu is really hard to find, you can skip it and slightly increase the other ingredients by ratio.
These sound so good, thanks for sharing this delicious looking recipe.
Simon
unchhhhhh .. looks so perfect for processed pork. usually not so attractive and tend to be greasy and unappealing.
thank you
I’m happy that you love it, thank you for the kind compliment.
Dear Elaine,
I love your blog…can’t wait to try..
I am a muslim ,I love to make char -siu but will replace it with chicken or mutton. if you could suggest certain ingredients used that will be able to replace eg. alchol.
Regards
Nur
Hi Nur,
You can use fatty mutton to replace pork. You can skip alcohol and add one shredded red onion. The purpose of using alcohol is to remove the smell of the meat, red onion can help too. But you need to pick them out before roasting. I hope this helps. Good luck!
I can’t wait to try this, but I have question: Do you boil the marinate liquid before using it to baste the pork — or do you set some aside ahead of time? It seems as if it might be unsafe otherwise, but possibly it heats sufficiently after it is applied to the pork.
Thank you!
Yes, I let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.
Hi,
I’ve been doing a lot of your site’s recipes and they’ve all been wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
But i have a question for this one. Is red bean curd the same as red fermented tofu? And how much does “one fermented tofu” yields as if in cups, tablespoons, etc.?
there are many Asian markets here in the area where I live. I will keep an eye out for red yeast rice and fermented red tofu now. thanks for all the great ideas. next I want to try making the sauce with some condensed fruit juice, like cherry or something.
thanks for all the inspiration
I hope you will like it. Happy cooking. If you can find red yeast rice or fermented red tofu, I believe you can produce the beautiful red color.