Jamie's Chinese Feast Part 2

Part two of Jamie's Chinese feast plus dessert, it will make you very hungry indeed.

Char- Siu Pork,叉燒

Char Siu Pork

Char Siu meaning barbeque meat is another popular dish among the Chinese community. This dish originates from Hong Kong but you can practically find them in most Chinese restaurants. In Bristol, there is a top notch Cantonese restaurant called Mayflower that serves very good Saam Siu meaning three roasts in Cantonese. This dish includes: Char Siu, Siu Yuk (roast pork belly) and Roast duck. This is my all-time favourite dish.

Ingredients:

• 500g of Pork Belly/ Pork Loin (Cut them in long strips,1 inch thick)
• 1/4 bottle of Char Siu sauce (Make:Lee Kum Kee)
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of rice wine
• 1/2 teaspoon of five spice powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil
• Few drops of red colouring

1. Marinate the pork with all the ingredients overnight or 3-4 before cooking for best results.
2. If you are using belly pork, make sure to score the skin so the crackling comes out nice and crunchy.
3. Pre-heat the oven at 190C.
4. Bake it in oven 190C for 15mins until half-nearly cooked.
5. Then put the grill on for 10mins-15mins so the meat gets slightly charred and crispy.
6. Brush some extra Char Siu sauce on while the meat is on grill.
7. Turn grill off when the meats are slightly charred and crispy on the top. Serve.

Char Siu 

Char Siu Pork Belly

You can get the Char Siu sauce (Lee Kum Kee) from a local Chinese supermarket. This is what you are looking out for. Lee Kum Kee has a selection of great sauces, so if you are a big fan of Chinese food, make sure you try the black bean sauce and spicy bean sauce which is perfect for a stir fry beef/chicken or even tofu if you like them!

Fried Salt and Pepper Squid

Salt and Pepper Squid

Here is another 'must-order' dish whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant or ANY restaurant that serves fried calamari. It is very similar to fried calamari apart from the extra ingredients we use in this recipe. The peppers, spring onion, garlic and chillies definitely bring an extra crunch and flavour to this dish!
Squid itself has not much flavour apart from its fishy smell and chewy texture, so it usually needs a sauce or marinates to bring out the flavour. In this case, marinate the squid for few hours before cooking.

Ingredients:

• 500g of squid (cut them 1inch x 1 inch then cross/score them on one side)
• 1/2 a red pepper (chopped in little cubes)
• A few stalk of spring onion (chopped an inch long)
• 3 gloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 2 chillis (chopped)
• 1/2 cup of corn flour
• 1 tablespoon of Thai fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of white pepper

1. Marinate the squid with Thai fish Sauce, soy Sauce, salt and pepper for few fours for best results.
2. Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan, fry garlic for a minute then add red pepper and fry it for 5 minutes. Finally, add spring onion and chilli and fry it for another 2 minutes.
3. Add a pinch of salt for flavouring. Dish the vegetables mixture and leave it aside.
4. Place corn flour on another plate and dap the sliced squid with corn flour until it is evenly coated.
5. In another pan, put enough oil for deep frying. 4-5cm oil should be enough to cover the squid. Heat the oil on high heat.
6. Deep fry the squid on until golden brown. Lower the heat if the oil is getting too hot.
7. When all the squid are fried, the final step is to mix the squid with the vegetables mixture. Put them in a pan and stir fry them very quickly on high heat.
8. Serve.  A dipping sauce like Thai Sweet Chilli sauce will go perfectly with the squid.

Salt and Pepper Squid

If you are not a squid person, the same recipe can be used for prawns and chicken! 

The Thai sweet chilli sauce is very mild and if you are up for something slightly more spicier than there is a chilli sauce I would like to recommend here. 

I grew up eating this sauce in Malaysia and it is a perfect dipping for EVERYTHING! You can get them in every Chinese supermarket or even in Tesco and Asda. Enjoy!

Elisa and I were stuffed after such a delicious meal thanks to Jamie's skills, but we still had room for pudding, banana splits. I have not had such a satisfying dessert in a long while, definitely indulge in one when you are feeling in an ice cream mood.