food comas

Char Siu translated to “fork burn/roast,” which is a literal description of the Chinese traditional method of cooking pork: long strips of seasoned pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or a fire.  The term is typically used to refer to Chinese-flavored barbequed meat, and one can usually see hanging strips of vibrantly red roasted meat (pork, beef, duck) hanging in the windows in Chinatown.  Char siu sauce usually consists of a mixture of honey, five-spice powder, fermented red tofu, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red food coloring (not a traditional ingredient but very common in today’s preparations) and sherry or rice wine.   When my mother cooks with Char Siu sauce, she typically adds more of these ingredients to enhance the flavor, although most likely it’s just to save money on buying more jars of the sauce…  You can buy Char Siu sauce at any Asian grocery store, I typically purchase Lee Kum Kee brands.

This a super easy recipe because all you really need to do is coat the meat and let the sauce do all the work!

Char Siu Baby Back Ribs

Yields: 2-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs pork baby back ribs
• 5 T char siu sauce (about 1/3 jar)
• 1 T oyster sauce
• 1 T honey
• 1/2 tsp chicken bullion powder

Directions:

Mix the char siu sauce, oyster sauce, honey, and chicken bullion powder together in a small bowl.

Coat the baby back ribs with the marinade and let rest for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat the oven to 350°F.  Line a baking pan with aluminum foil.  Place the ribs upside down on the pan and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, flip the ribs over the cook the other side for another 30 minutes.

Cut the ribs into individual pieces.  Serve with rice and some stir-fried greens, like Broccoli Stir-Fry, and enjoy!