I love me some Cantonese-style roasted char siu 叉烧。It’s a deliciously sweet and charred roasted pork fillet that has a caramelised exterior while remaining juicy on the inside. The best part? It’s not hard to make at all!
A type of Cantonese 烧腊 (roasted meat), it can be found sold at specialty stores alongside roast duck, goose, roasted pork belly and sometimes, chicken. A wide variety of cuts can be used to make char siu such as pork belly, pork shoulder or loin. As much as I love pork belly, using this cut with char siu can be too decadent for my taste. Imagine all that glistening pig fat with the sweetness of the caramelise skin, it’s good – but it’s too much of a good thing. My preferred cut is the pork shoulder, it has just enough fat on it to retain its juiciness while being lean enough to enjoy in larger quantities.
Following one of my favourite Chinese food blogs China Sichuan Food, I set out to make some of the easiest roasted char siu. Since I moved away from SIN City, food like this has been increasingly hard to find. Unless I go to Chinatown and pay a premium price for it. Making this myself only cost me a box of pork shoulder and hoisin sauce. Everything else, I already had in my pantry. I even took it one step further to create my own char siu lo mein. If you’re from Singapore, you’ll know that dry tossed noodles comprise an ambrosial combination of sesame oil, chilli, soy sauce, vinegar and lard. Now that, you’d be hard pressed to find in London. But it’s ok, you can always make it yourself, like I did! If you’re interested in other Singaporean recipes, you can look at my Chocolate Swirl Mantou post.
I used Lee Kum Kee Hoisin sauce in this recipe. Actually, almost all of the condiments in this recipe are from Lee Kum Lee. I just realised this. Haha! But hey, this is clearly not sponsored. It’s just the one of the bigger brands that has a presence in the UK.
Note: Lo Mein is not to confused with lor mee. Lo mein = 捞面, Lor Mee = 卤面.
Easy Char Siu Noodle, Singapore-style
Prep time: 30 mins + 1 day marination, Cook time: 40 mins, Feeds: 4 pax
Ingredients for Char Siu
Char Siu – 500-600g worth
- Follow China Sichuan Food’s recipe, linked above.
- (the only change I made to the recipe is that I marinated it overnight)
Ingredients for Singapore Lo Mein
(Swipe to the left to see image of noodle dish)
- 4 wholewheat noodle nests (I used Blue Dragon’s, you can choose the normal egg noodles in any thickness)
- 15ml x 4 light soy sauce
- 5g x 4 Laoganma Chilli Oil
- 15ml x 4 Chinkiang black vinegar
- 5ml x 4 sesame oil
- Bok Choy or Lettuce hearts, boiled
Method
- Make the char siu as per China Sichuan’s recipe. The only difference is that I left the meat to marinate overnight before roasting. It make a lot of difference if you do that!
- After the char siu has rested, slice it into thin pieces and set aside.
- Make the noodles according to package instructions. Usually placing the nests in boiling water for 15 minutes should do the trick. Once the nests start to break apart, you’re golden.
- Meanwhile, as you’re waiting for the noodles to cook. Make the sauce. Each portion listed above is the quantity for 1 person. In clean bowls, place soy sauce, chilli oil, vinegar, and sesame oil. Stir with chopsticks to incorporate thoroughly.
- Place cooked noodles into the sauce and toss until it’s fully coated. Take the sliced char siu and top the noodles with it. Put the boiled green leafy vegetables on the noodles as a garnish.
- Tuck into it immediately!
- Leftover Char Siu can be made into baos or eaten as is.
And indeed I did turn the leftovers into Char Siu Bao. I’ll save that recipe for another day and the dramatic story that came with it. LOL!
cook. eat. rinse. repeat. 
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