Chicken Char Siu

March 1, 2010 at 5:36 pm (Meat, Poultry, Game, Real Food, Traditional Food) (5-spice, beet powder, char siu, chicken, Chinese BBQ, fermented soy, hoisin, raw honey)

Char siu translates literally as “fork burn/roast”, an ancient method of fire-roasting wild boar. While most modern Chinese BBQ uses domestic pork (and lots of red food coloring), the flavors are also well suited to chicken. Here I have marinated chicken pieces in a mixture of fermented soy, sherry, hoisin, 5-spice, local raw honey, chili and red bean paste (with organic beet powder for color), then slow-roasted (3 hours at 15 degrees) them until fork-tender. The sticky, hot, sweet and sour flavors play well with sesame-roasted asparagus on the side..

Chicken Char Siu

7 Comments

Sustainable Eats said,

March 2, 2010 at 1:36 am

Oh my Ren. Do you have a recipe for this one? Or is it somewhere else on your site already? I’ve got a pickle man who will be all over this one!

Reply
- Ren said,
  
  March 2, 2010 at 1:23 pm
  
  I made this one up after glancing at a half dozen or so recipes online and identify the most common ingredients; the proportions (which I didn’t write down at the time) were all to taste as a result of adding this and that to a bowl, adjusting for balance between sweet, sour, hot and umami. The beet powder was added in place of red food coloring.
  
  The chicken was slow-cooked at low temp both to retain moisture and to prevent the sugars from burning.
  
  Reply
Ellen said,

March 2, 2010 at 1:11 pm

Beautiful! I’m going to try to find some red bean paste with beet powder coloring. This one is definitely on my list of things to try.

Reply
- Ren said,
  
  March 2, 2010 at 1:31 pm
  
  Thanks, Ellen!
  
  I haven’t seen bean paste pre-made that way. I seperately added organic beet powder to the mixture in place of the red dye, just as one might use turmeric or annatto as a natural colorant.
  
  Reply
  - Ellen said,
    
    March 4, 2010 at 12:19 pm
    
    Thanks for the tip, Ren!
    
    Reply
Millie @ Real Food for Less Money said,

March 3, 2010 at 1:50 pm

Yum! Is the bean paste the same (or similiar) to the fermented bean paste in the Nourising Traditions book? The asparagus looks delicious too.

Reply
- Ren said,
  
  March 3, 2010 at 6:19 pm
  
  Thanks! I used Azuki beans, but otherwise pretty similar to those in Nourishing Traditions.
  
  Reply