Pan Roasted Char Siew 叉烧

Last week I made Char Siew Rice during one dinner.  The kids are not fans of Char Siew so I make them something else.

The Char Siew was done using my Happy Call grill pan. However you can use any non-stick pan with a lid on. It's relatively quite easy to make but you have watch over it to prevent the char siew from burning.

I'm using the lowest heat I can get on my burner so I can roast the meat longer to make it tender without burning it. Have hot water on hand and if you find the sauce drying up, thin it by adding some hot water to continue cooking it.

This works well with ribs too. You don't really need an oven to do it. If you love to have ribs for this coming Christmas but do not have an oven, you might want to try this pan roasting method.

Ingredients:

• 500g Shoulder Butt Pork (pork with a bit more fats is preferred)
• 2 tablespoon Maltose
• 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Hoisin Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Wine
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 100ml + additional 50ml Water

How to do it:

1. Combine all ingredients, except water, together.
2. Marinate for at least an hour.
3. Pour the marinate into the pan and add 100ml water.
4. Bring the sauce to a boil.
5. Add in the meat and cook on all sides first.
6. Reduce heat to low.
7. Cover the pan and continue cooking for 45 mins.
8. Turn the meat every 10 mins to coat it well with sauce as well as to prevent it from burning at the bottom.
9. Turn it more often when sauce reduced and starts to thickened. Add a bit more water if necessary to prevent the sauce from burning which will makes it bitter.
10. Remove the meat and set aside to let it cool before slicing it.
11. Add in the remanding water to thin the sauce.
12. You can use the sauce to drizzle over the char siew or rice.

Note:

• Do not replace maltose with sugar as sugar will turn hard when it's cooled, which in turn, makes the meat hard. If you do not have maltose, you can use honey instead.
• Amount of water added depends on how fast your sauce thickens. Every stove is different. Hence, the low heat/fire might be different. I have lower the fire on my stove to the lowest I can get.
• Happy Call Pan has a wider cooking area hence the sauce will dries and thicken faster. If you are using a smaller pot or pan, you might need to reduce the amount of water added at first. Please adjust accordingly.