Char Siu Pork, Salad and Rolls (by G)

I, like any right-thinking human being, enjoy Chinese BBQ pork (char siu) - the butcher shop just down the road does an excellent version. This time, however, I decided to DIY it.

The process is pretty simple - make up a marinade of salt, five spice powder, paprika, white pepper, Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, tomato paste, molasses (well, I didn't have that so I substituted with some ketjap manis), garlic and a dash of water. I also added some red food colouring to get the authentic look.

The recipe I pillaged called for a 6 hour marinating time but I went with about 48 hours before cooking in a super hot oven for about 25 minutes a side then finishing off under the grill - not forgetting to baste with marinade the whole time.

To cut through the richness of the pork I quick pickled a packet coleslaw mix in a combination of salt, sugar and apple cider vinegar. There were also breadrolls so one could make a pork and salad roll if one chose to.

My thoughts are that I could have lacquered the pork more frequently with the marinade to get a super thick coating on the outside, otherwise this was a pretty successful replication of char siu.