You know that red roasted pork they serve in Chinese restaurants? If you’ve ever ordered “pork fried rice,” you’ve probably tasted char siu. This Cantonese classic roast pork needs to marinate a long time, but there isn’t much active hands-on effort involved.
Ordinarily, char siu calls for a fattier cut of pork like pork butt or a pork shoulder. Since we’re eating for heart-health here, I wondered if I could make a decent char siu with a lean pork loin. It turned out well! Husband thought it tasted meatier and juicier than normal char siu, and much leaner too!
This recipe has a fraction the fat and sodium you’d find in takeout pork fried rice, but it tastes pretty close!
You’ll want to marinate your pork the day before
Plan ahead to make char siu, because the meat needs to marinate for at least 8 hours. I think it’s best to make the marinade the night before, and leave the pork marinating in the refrigerator overnight. It’ll be fine in there for up to 24 hours.
I also chose to discard the leftover marinade to limit sugar and salt. Traditionally, you’re supposed to baste the pork with extra marinade during roasting, but we didn’t really miss it.
Use any vegetables you want
Fried rice is a fantastic way to use up random leftover veggies. I used shiitake mushrooms, scallions and frozen peas & carrots, because that’s what I happened to have on hand. However, this recipe is highly flexible, and you can use any vegetables you want.
I used day-old brown rice
I used brown rice because, unlike white rice, the grains still contain their hull, bran and germ — and this is where most of the nutrition and fiber live. Cook the rice 1 day ahead of time, or use less water than you usually would. Fried rice is always better with slightly dried-out rice.
Notes on “specialty” ingredients:
- Your local Asian grocery store definitely sells all these ingredients, because they’re super-common ingredients in Chinese cooking. I buy everything at Catalina’s Asian Grocery in Ledyard, New Asia Market in Groton and Lee’s in New London.
- Shaoxing wine is what makes it taste restaurant-like, but be aware that Shaoxing contains some salt. If you don’t have Shaoxing on hand, any rice wine or dry sherry will work.
- Five-spice powder is non-negotiable for flavor. Most supermarkets sell it in the spice aisle, but Asian grocery stores tend to sell it cheaper than anyone else.
- Sesame oil is important for getting the right flavor, and is sold in most supermarkets (in the “international” aisle)
- Dark soy sauce is more molasses-y, sweeter and more viscous than your regular low-sodium soy sauce. If you haven’t got any dark soy sauce on hand, use a 50/50 mix — use ¼ teaspoon honey or dark molasses, and ¼ teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce.
Char Siu Fried Rice
Ingredients
Make the Char Siu
- 1 pound lean pork loin (cut into about 4 large pieces)
- 1 garlic clove (finely minced)
- ½ tablespoon granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon hot water
- ½ teaspoon Shaoxing cooking wine
- ½ teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon hoisin sauce
- ½ teaspoon molasses
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- red food coloring (optional, but authentic)
Cook the Rice Ahead Of Time
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
Other Fried Rice Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon canola oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms (or whatever you have on hand)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
- 1 scallion (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
- ½ tsp dark soy sauce (optional)
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Omelette
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup liquid egg white
- ½ tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Cook the brown rice according to package instructions a day ahead of time. Fried rice is always better with leftover, day-old rice. Be sure to omit any extra salt.
Marinate the Char Siu Roast Pork 1 Day Before
- Remove visible fat from the pork loin and cut into 4 large pieces.
- In a bowl, whisk together all of the char siu marinade ingredients.
- Add the pork to the bowl, turning to coat. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
Roast the Char Siu
- Preheat the oven to 450 °F
- Lightly spray a baking dish with nonstick spray and arrange the pork pieces in it.
- Roast the pork in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until a thermometer registers an internal temperature of 160 °F
- There will be caramelized marinade in the bottom of the baking dish. Roll the pork around in the marinade to get a nice coating on it.
- Transfer the pork to a plate. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before chopping the pork into small pieces.
Make the omelet
- Lightly spray a small skillet with nonstick spray and heat over medium heat.
- While the skillet is heating, whisk together 1 egg + ¼ cup liquid egg whites
- Add ½ tablespoon Shaoxing wine + ½ teaspoon of sesame oil to the egg mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the heated skillet and let it sit for a minute until the edges start to solidify. Then, use a spatula to gently pull back the edges and let the liquid parts of the omelet flow underneath.
- When the omelet is mostly-solid, gently flip it over to briefly cook the other side.
- Transfer the omelet to a plate and let it sit for a minute or two before slicing into small pieces.
Put the Fried Rice Together
- Cut up all the vegetables, and make sure any frozen vegetables have been fully thawed.
- Heat 2 teaspoons of canola oil (or other neutral-tasting oil) over medium-high heat, in a large skillet or frying pan.
- Add the chopped onions and mushrooms to the hot skillet and cook the onions for a couple of minutes until they start to soften.
- When the onions have turned translucent, add the minced garlic and stir it around for about 30 seconds, until the garlic starts to turn fragrant.
- Add the scallions, peas and carrots, or any other vegetables you want to add.
- Add 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine to deglaze the pan, and scrape up any browned bits that've stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the cooked rice and stir it around until heated through.
- Stir in 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, ½ teaspoon of dark soy sauce (if you have it on hand), and ½ teaspoon of sesame oil, and stir into the rice-and-vegetable mixture.
- Stir in the pork pieces and omelet pieces.
