Char Siu Meat Recipe

On my travels in Asia, I became obsessed with Char Siu meat.

Everywhere you go, street food stalls, they have these fantastic cabinets filled with meat that’s sticky and sweet and gorgeous.

And it’s very easy to recreate at home.

Why You’ll Love This

It’s not exactly the same, but it’s my best version.

The very important ingredient in here is the yellow bean paste. It’s this sort of umami, salty flavor that really rounds out this Char Siu marinade.

The interesting thing about white pepper is that it’s going to give you that heat, but it’s a dry heat in here, and it’s a subtle heat that works really well in Asian cookery.

I’m making Char Siu chicken drumsticks, but this marinade goes beautifully with pork or beef. So it’s very, very versatile.

And actually glazed over some grilled vegetables, it is wonderful as well.

I really like making up marinades because they’re the sort of thing that you can stick the meat in and pop it all into a freezer bag and leave it in a freezer, and it’ll quite happily sit, waiting for you to pull it out and have a little snack for dinner.

But it’s that umami taste you get from the yellow bean paste and the hoisin sauce. It’s that spice from the five spice and the white pepper. But it’s all about that finish, that glossy finish you get over them.

They are well worth a go.

Ingredients

• For the Marinade:
  • a few tablespoons of hoisin sauce
  • yellow bean paste
  • a little bit of dark brown sugar
  • honey
  • a pinch of white pepper
  • a little hint of five spice powder
  • a touch of acidity from some rice wine
  • a little bit of ketchup
• Main Item:
  • chicken drumsticks
• For Garnish:
  • spring onions
  • toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. It starts off by making a marinade in a bowl.
2. To this bowl, we’re going to make up this sort of sticky Char Siu glaze.
3. So I’ve got a few tablespoons of this hoisin sauce.
4. So that goes in (yellow bean paste).
5. I’ve got a little bit of dark brown sugar, which is going to essentially help me get this really sweet, sticky glaze.
6. To that sweetness, we’re going to add some honey.
7. And then to bring this all together in terms of aromatics, I have a pinch of white pepper.
8. To this, we are going to add a little hint of five spice powder.
9. And then the last ingredient, which is an important one, is a touch of acidity from some rice wine.
10. So this goes straight in, and I’m going to give this all a good mix up.
11. My missing ingredient is a little bit of ketchup.
12. So that goes in. Give that all a good mix through.
13. Into this mix, we are going in there with some chicken drumsticks.
14. This is going to marinate overnight, if you have the time.
15. I’m going to put this straight into a baking sheet lined with some parchment paper.
16. And now, all I want to do is arrange these around, just so that there’s enough space for them to cook out quite evenly.
17. When they go into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes, you’re going to baste them and make sure you get that really sticky glaze.
18. So into the oven we go.
19. So I’m just going to finish them off with some spring onions, just sprinkled over the top.
20. And I’m just going to finish them with a sprinkle of these toasted sesame seeds as well.

Cooking Tips

Two hours will do it. One hour will do it. But really, what you’re looking for is that marinade to penetrate the flesh and really give you great flavor.

Because it might look quite watery right now. As this breaks down, and as the chicken cooks, we’re going to give it this sticky finish to it. And that sauce will break all the way down.

Serving Suggestions

This goes really well with noodles.

It goes really well with rice.

It goes really well just by itself in the lunch box for your lunch.

That is a hot piece of chicken right there. I need to eat a bit more. But it’s so good.

It’s really, really sticky.

They are well worth a go.