Conventional and Vegetarian Char Siew

Well... time really flies. It's been a week ago since my first post. This week I bring you something Asian, Chinese to be exact. A conventional and a vegetarian version of Char Siew. Char Siew is literally translated as roasted fork. What??? Why would you want to eat a roasted fork? This is just the literal translation. Char Siew is also known as barbequed pork.

Char Siew is well-known and well-loved by Chinese. It originated from Canton and can be widely found all over Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and of course, Canton (China) itself. Char Siew is usually made from the pork belly and it is basically marinated in sugar, salt, five spice powder and some red colouring (optional). After marinating, the pork belly will be 'stringed' together by poking a long fork through them and then roasted over an open fire or in an oven. Hence, the name char siew (fork roasted) came about.


Here is the recipe for the conventional roasted Char Siew :

1 kg pork shoulder / pork belly

Marinating Sauce
Juice from 1 lemon
3 tbsp five - spiced powder
50 ml oyster sauce
4 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp Chinese wine (Hua Tiao Jiu)
50 ml water

Marinate pork with sauce for a minimum of 4 hours. Line baking reay with aluminum foil. Put pork on the foil and pour sauce on it. Grill in preheated oven of 220C for 30 minutes. Lower temperature to 190C and continue to grill for another 25 minutes. Turn pork over every 15 minutes to prevent burning on one side. Remove and slice. Pour sauce over it and serve.


The vegetarian char siew is basically the same except that the 'meat' is made from wheat gluten. First, you have to knead flour (plain or bread), salt & water into a dough. Let it rise for 1 hour. Slowly wash off the starch, leaving only the gluten. The gluten is then rested for a minimum of 4 hours. Then only can the gluten be cooked.

The recipe for the raw gluten and the vegetarian char siew are as follows :

Raw Gluten
1 kg plain / bread flour
2 tsp salt
600 ml warm water

Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add water and salt to form dough. Knead until smooth and cover with damp cloth. Leave to rest for 1 hour. Place dough in a large sieve. Run cold water over it while you press and squeeze dough with your hands to wash out as much starch as possible. Do this until dough is reduced to approximately half its size. Keep gluten in container & let it rest for a minimum of 6 hours in the fridge. Use as per recipe.

Note : Water will be secreted over time. Just throw away the water. The raw gluten can be kept in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Makes approximately 300g - 350g

Vegetarian Char Siew
300g raw gluten
1 stalk of Chinese celery (cut into 2)

Marinating Sauce
5 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp five-spiced powder
200 ml water
3 tbsp sugar
A few drops of red colouring

Roll gluten into a long roll and tie it into a knot. Heat up a wok of water. Add in gluten and celery to cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, heat a deep casserole with the marinating sauce. Maintain at low heat and add in gluten. Cook gluten for 20 minutes. Turn over the gluten to evenly cover it in the sauce. Turn off heat and leave gluten inside to stand for another 20 minutes. Remove and cut char siew into slices. Pour char siew sauce over it or on the side.

Notes :-
1) If you want the char siew to have some burnt crispy bits, brush char siew with a little oil and grill in the oven at 200C for 10 minutes. (I find it a little dry and rubbery after grilling)

2) The marinating sauce can be re-used the next time you want to make this again. Just keep the sauce in a bottle and leave it in the fridge. Remember to label the bottle as to the contents and the date it was made.

The above recipes can be found at Kitchencapers

You need to sign up as a member to view the recipes. No worries as membership is free. Go and take a look. It's really a treasure house of recipes ~ all tried and tested.

That's all for this week, folks. By the way, I will be going for a short trip to the food haven of Malaysia. Yes, you got it. I will be in Penang for 4 days. Yummm.....

First Post

My very first post is about one of my passions ~ FOOD, glorious food, of which bread ranks almost the top.


What, green onions??? Me making something that I don't like? I forsee raised eyebrows on family & close friends. Yeah, I am known for not liking green onions, onions, shallots, chinese parsley, celery, etc. you get the idea. Then, why in world would I want to make something that I don't like?

First and foremost, I have all the ingredients at hand. Secondly, I want to finish up the green onions before they turn bad on me. Thirdly (as if I need a third reason), D would like it as he loves all the things mentioned above.

The bread that I had made over last weekend is this Green Onion & Yoghurt Bread which I got from Nic's Baking Bites. As this was the first time I made bread in a long, long time, I followed 99% of the recipe . The only thing I changed was the flour. I used 50% bread flour & 50% ap flour. Making it was a breeze and I also enjoyed myself kneading away. Nothing beats the feel of dough in your hands. When you are kneading, it feels as if you have no worries or cares in this world .... just you and your dough, bonding. It is really that soothing. Try it and you will understand what I mean.

The result?


I wasn't too pleased with the colour at the sides and bottom as it's too pale but I guess it can't be helped. The oven that I have is extemely hot meaning it's not accurate. As I have put the dough into a loaf pan, I can't see the colour at the bottom. Maybe I should invest in an oven thermometer, hmmm....... *grinning widely*

Other than the colour, I'm pretty pleased with the bread itself. The usual spring onion smell had changed into a lovely fragrance. Maybe I will add more spring onions the next time round. The only other change that I will make is to lessen the yoghurt by 1 tbsp as I find it just a little too tangy for my taste.

However, there is still room for improvements as you can see the texture of the bread is still not as fluffy.

Give this bread a try and let me know what you think. With this, I bid you good bye. Till the next time then!

The First Step

Finally!!! I've joined the world of blogging after many, many months of contemplation. I had a lot of 'worries' about starting a blog. Will I be able to commit the time to regularly update it? What will I write about? Will what I write about interest others? What if the way I write is boring? Aaarrgh......

After much thinking, I have decided to go ahead with it. This serves as a journal and also the means of which I can link my favourite blogs for easy accessability :)