Siew Yuk (Roasted Pork Belly)

Ingredients:

1. 1kg of pork belly
2. Sea-salt
3. *White pepper (optional)

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1. Wash the pork belly thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Usually, a skin-pricking-tool is used. Unfortunately, I do not own one. So I had to use a very sharp fork. Prick the whole pork skin until it looks like some fork-stabbing-session. (At the end of the pricking session, my hands were numb and carpal tunnel was in full manifestation. Conclusion: Get the damn tool!) The tool looks like this:

*picture taken from HERE

3. Season with salt and grounded white pepper. (*White pepper is optional. For those who are on salicylate diet, do omit if you are unable to tolerate.)

4. Rub the seasoning(s) thoroughly until the whole pork belly is coated.

5. You can either place it in a freezer bag to allow it to be seasoned in the freezer for an extended period of time (to allow the seasoning to permeate the meat more thoroughly), OR you can blow dry it with a fan (if you are going to eat it on the same day). Some people dry their meat in the fridge.

Blowing the meat so that the skin dries up. This will ensure the skin to crackle and pop into a very crispy and crunchy texture.

6. Preheat the oven to 230C.

7. Bake for approximately 45 minutes.

8. Then set the oven on GRILL mode.

9. Grill for another 1/2 hour.

10. Remove from oven to cool.

11. Slice the slab of meat and ENJOY!!!!!!

To die for!!!!!!!!!!! YUMMY!!!

Bon appétit!

Homemade Char Siew

Char Siew is also known as Chinese flavored BBQ pork. The parts that are used to make this dish are the pork loin, the butt (shoulder) or the pork belly. 

I usually ate this whenever I had Chinese chicken rice or wantan noodles from the restaurants or hawker stalls. After almost 6 years of not having this, I think I died and went to the heaven of char siew when I made this and ate it about 2 months ago. HAHA!

The char siew which is sold outside uses chinese wine, fermented red bean curd and some use the Chinese five-spice powder. All which I am unable to eat.

So here is my low-salicylate, gluten-free version.

Ingredients:

1. 1kg of pork belly (skin removed)

2. 1/4 cup of sunflower oil 

3. 1/2 cup of brown sugar

4. Tamari (wheat free soya sauce)

5. Sea-salt

6. *Sesame oil

7. *Grounded black pepper

*Ingredients 6 and 7 are high in salicylates. Omit them if you cannot tolerate them.

The amount of marination ingredients is up to you. Some like it sweet. Some don't. So experiment with the amounts until you are comfortable with the taste and flavour. 

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1. In a freezer bag, place the washed pork belly inside.

2. Pour all the ingredients onto the pork.

3. Seal the bag and mix all the ingredients until the pork is well coated. 

4. Place in freezer for about 2 weeks.

5. On the day or even the day before, take it out from the freezer and allow it to defrost in the fridge.

6. Line baking tray with baking paper.

7. Preheat over to 220C.

8. Place the well seasoned pork onto baking tray and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Allow to cool before serving.

Bon appétit!