Homemade Char Siew

This is my very first time roasting char siew. I was inspired by Camemberu when I spied hers on her blog one time. Just like her, I would never have thought that I'd ever roast char siew, but I believed her when she said it was very easy to do - just marinade and roast, and that was exactly what I did. I marinaded the meat for 12hrs and roasted it on a Sunday morning before I left for church. I removed it to cool while I was out. I thought it turned out a bit salty even though I had cut down on the tau cheo.

0.5 kg Pork Collar (if you like it juicy) or Pork Shoulder (if you like it leaner) - I used pork shoulder which the butcher told me was 'twee bak'. I also made 1kg with advice from Camemberu that there was plenty of marinade using this recipe.
250g Sugar
150g Oyster Sauce
100g Bean Paste (Taucheo or Dou Jiang) - I used 70g but might cut it down to 50g the next time
100ml Soya Sauce - possibly cut this down to 80ml
2 teaspoon Rice Wine
2 teaspoon Black Soya Sauce
I omitted the red food colouring, but you can put 1 tsp if you like.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix all the ingredients together and marinade the meat in it for at least an hour (overnight is best).

2. Roast in a moderately hot oven for half an hour, turning and basting the meat till it is cooked and slightly charred. (I used 200 deg C for 45mins - basting halfway and at the end), and then at 240 degrees for another 10 minutes for greater char.

The first dish I used my homemade char siew in was fried rice. I love fried rice with char siew and saved the sauce to be mixed in. It was yummy and the char siew didn't actually taste salty once fried with rice.

Since hubby was working late one evening, I decided to fry a simple fried rice for dinner using my homemade char siew which I cut into small cubes, some onion, garlic, peas and the remainder slices of pineapple leftover from when I made the upside down cake. I also fried two pieces of Japanese fishcake to go with it.

When I was young, I remember fried rice being made up of whatever was left in the fridge. However, these days, we tend to use fresh ingredients specially for frying it. I always loved some char siew in it, as it gives more bite to the dish.

What do you like to use as ingredients in your fried rice dish?

Chinese Meatloaf ;P

I attempted this dish once, but it didn't turn out that pretty. I have since learned that to steam beautiful eggs and meat patties, you really need to have patience. A gentle simmer is all it takes. A big fiery flame is going to destroy it.

My grandma used to cook this dish for us. However, for my version, I added minced carrots, more to add some colour to the dish. It also lends a bit of crunch.

Ingredients -

250g minced pork
1/4 sick of carrot (minced)
1 egg, beaten
1/2tsp cooking oil
preserved chye sim (preserved lettuce), minced (I used approx 15 small pieces)

Seasoning for mince -

light soya sauce
sesame oil
white pepper
corn flour
a dash of 5 spice powder (you may omit)

In all Chinese cooking, seasonings for meat predominantly feature light soya sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, sometimes oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, dark sauce as well as corn flour. You can't go wrong with this combo.

Method -

Assemble all the ingredients and steam for 20mins or till cooked. Serve hot with porridge or rice.

Have you seen the sun?

Woohoo, no rain yesterday and today. :) Never thought I'd be rejoicing at seeing the sun, but after a week of non-stop rain and being homebound, plus laundry taking ages to dry, it is a happy moment. At least it's not inconvenient to get around, seeing that I had to go out yesterday and today. We went for Disney on Ice and thank God for the dry weather, or else it'd have been more than a bit troublesome to get to the venue, as the car park is uncovered. Went with cousin and nephew and the kids enjoyed it very much. Princess was there for Ariel, and Ariel alone. Haha. She had her tiara on, and took along her Ariel baby doll. I had to resist buying the Ariel wand despite all the pleadings. Told her we'd get nicer things at Disney soon, and that'd be loads of Ariel stuff. Even the t-shirt they were selling at the show was nothing great. I think she's gonna go nuts over in Disneyland.

For dinner, I made eggplant with hae bee hiam...

Long beans with minced meat.

Baked chicken breast in Teriyaki sauce with onion and thyme.

Honey BBQ spare ribs. This picture isn't very sharp but the one with flash made it look very black so this pic will have to do.

Fruits after dinner consisted of mango, apple, dragonfruit. Litttle princess is a fruit bat. She eats any kind of fruits and goes crazy when she sees them. Hehe. Mangoes are her all time favourite, followed by bananas. She loves dragonfruit too, and other than durian, I haven't come across any that she won't eat.

Some food I made

Made fried wantons last night & an omelette with fish paste and spring onions. I love this omelette. It was something I discovered when we went to one of Princess' friend's house for a playdate and this was one of the dishes served. Not sure if I have blogged about it before, though. I mean, I'm not surprised as my dishes are always very predictable and same old, same old. So the truth is out. I'm a very boring cook who serves the same kind of food week in week out. Hehe. However, this fried wanton is not something I dish out very often. It does seem that I have been deep frying too much foodstuff! It's time to s-t-o-p! For the fish paste, you can buy it at the yong tau fu stall and beat it in with the egg. There is no need for salt, maybe just some white pepper. I added in the spring onions to give it a bit more flavour.

With the same minced meat, I added prawns, minus the water chestnuts and set aside some to make siew mai today. Unfortunately, they were edible but not presentable. They sort of fell apart when I was trying to take them out after steaming, so failure there. I wonder how little corner of mine makes it look so easy and beautiful. ;)

Made these crepes today just to have, not for tea or anything but just to fatten ourselves up, not that we are not fat enough. It's not funny how little princess' belly sticks out in ballet class and just 3 weeks' ago, the teacher had just commented that she had lost some weight. Must start watching what she eats now. Hehe. Maybe too much home cooking. ;)

The chocolate is way too messy and not artistically presented. But we're not complaining once it is yummy. :P