Does strawberry and roast pork go together?

By Foong, on December 13th, 2008

It does when it comes to me rolling up my sleeves and giving roast pork a try!

We love char siew (roast pork). Especially the types that has been roasted to perfection after it was marinated. Since food prices are increasing and it is quite expensive to eat out all the time, I might as well learn to make roast pork to enjoy at home anytime. The best part is that I can control the quality of the food, what I put it in and yes, keep the cost low!

So, here’s the result of my first attempt at making roast pork

You must be wondering what has strawberry got to do with it…well, the traditional recipes for char siew requires some red food colouring but I don’t have any on hand…and this is what I do:

Roast Pork (Char Siew) Recipe

Ingredients

400g pork

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp strawberry essence

4 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

3 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Mushroom Sauce

1 tbsp Garlic Powder

A dash of pepper

To set aside

8 tbsp honey

Instructions

charsiew9 Does strawberry and roast pork go together?

1. Place all of the sugar, sauces, essence, powder and pepper in a bowl

2. Mix it all together.

charsiew8 Does strawberry and roast pork go together?

3. Pour the mixed sauces onto the pork

charsiew7 Does strawberry and roast pork go together?

4. Make sure the pork is covered in the sauces

5. Let it marinade for several hours, preferably overnight in the fridge.

charsiew6 Does strawberry and roast pork go together?

6. After it was marinated, place the pork on the roasting rack

7. You will notice that there’s a fair amount of the marinade leftover on the dish. Don’t throw it away. Use it to pour some on top of the pork before popping it into the oven to roast. Also, drizzle about 4 tbsp of honey over the pork.

8. Roast the pork for about 15 minutes. I have a 900w – 1200w three-in-one microwave oven so it cooks pretty fast. If you have a lower wattage oven, it may take a longer time. After 15 minutes, turn the pork and drizzle the remaining honey over it. Also spoon more of the leftover marinade on top to keep it moist. Roast for another 15 minutes.

Once done, this is what you’ll get…

charsiew4 Does strawberry and roast pork go together?

Gorgeously roasted glistening char siew

charsiew3 Does strawberry and roast pork go together?

If you slice it, it should look like this

It has just the slightest pinkish tinge due to the strawberry essence and though it may sound weird to use strawberry essence for roast pork, I felt that it actually gave the roast pork added flavour. By the way, if you have more leftover marinade, pop it into the microwave for a minute and then pour it over the roast pork. Makes a really great sauce!

You can enjoy this with plain white rice or even as part of an ingredient for fried noodles like this: