BBQ Red Pork – Char-sui-esque (Sort of Chinese BBQ but with a Thai slant)

Red Pork (Moo Dang) or Char-sui is another common Chinese dish that you can easily find in Thailand, from street stalls to fine-dining restaurants - the same concept with different execution and approaches. You can have Char-sui with rice, egg noodles or steamed vegetables. My version is street style with hard boiled eggs with gravy and fresh chilli soy sauce.

Char-sui
500 Pork Steaks or fillets (I prefer steaks with  a little bit of fat as they will be moister and taste better than lean)

1 tablespoon Hoi Sin

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

½ teaspoon chicken stock powder

1 tablespoon sweet Dark soy sauce (substitute with 1 teaspoon brown sugar if it is not available)

1 tablespoon Dry Sherry

A round or two of freshly ground black pepper

1 – 2 tablespoons sesame oil

Mix the liquid ingredients together in a bowl and add pepper. Pour over the pork in a plastic bag and marinade for 3 hours at least in the fridge. Massage the bag from time to time.

Grill on medium heat on barbecue until nicely brown and cooked through or bake in the oven at 180 degrees C. Place the pork on the wire rack and bake 20 minutes each side.

Leave to cool and slice thinly. Serve with steamed rice, sliced cucumber, hard-boiled eggs, gravy and chilli soy sauce. Place rice on a plate first and top it with pork and gravy. Set eggs and cucumber on the side. Drizzle chilli soy sauce on top of pork & gravy.

Gravy

1 cup chicken stock (1/2 teaspoon stock powder + 1 cup hot water)

1 teaspoon Hoi Sin sauce

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

 1-2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (I use ABC Kejap Manis)

1-2 teaspoon corn flour mix with a little bit cold water

Sesame Oil

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Red Food Colouring (optional)

Mix everything together in a saucepan (apart from the flour mixture) and bring to the boil. Add flour mixture, stir vigorously and cook until the sauce thickened. Add a dash of sesame oil, red food colouring and toasted sesame seeds.

Chilli Soy Sauce

1 Red chilli, sliced thinly (you can scrape out the seeds if you’re not keen on hot sauce)

2 table spoons dark soy sauce

2 -3 tablespoons white vinegar

Mix everything together in a bowl. Some like to drizzle chilli soy sauce on top of rice and some like this sauce as a side in a tiny bowl. Good for me both ways.

Enjoy!