Equipment
- 1 Bamboo Steamer
Ingredients
- 600 grams chicken tenderloins
Marinade
- 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons red food colouring
To Serve
- 12 Bao Buns
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, julienned (optional pickled)
- coriander
- 1 red chilli, thinly sliced (optional)
- Japanese mayonnaise
Instructions
Char Siu Chicken
- Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the chicken, cover and marinade in the fridge for at least 8 hours, preferably over night.
- Heat barbecue to a medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Turn over the chicken and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, use a bamboo steamer to heat the bao buns.
- To serve, slice the chicken tenderloins into thin slices on the diagonal. Assemble the bao buns by adding the chicken, along with a few slices of cucumber, a small amount of carrot, some coriander and a few slices of chilli to each bun. Drizzle with a small amount of Japanese mayonnaise.
Char Siu is a type of roast meat, that originates from the Canton region of China. Typically, pork is marinated in a sweet barbecue sauce and then roasted. The resulting pork has a distinct red color to the exterior.
Traditionally, char siu sauce gets its distinct red color through an ingredient known as fermented red bean curd. Only a small amount is used, meaning it won’t impart any flavor into the recipe. Unless you have other uses for red bean curd then its probably going to be more appropriate to substitute it for red food coloring. The use of food coloring will finish with a result that is almost the same in both flavor and color to the traditional method.
For this recipe, we have taken the amazing char siu flavor and paired it with chicken and accompaniments. It is then served in fluffy bao buns to create a mouthwatering dish guaranteed to please all.
Making the marinade
Char siu is typically made with pork, and you can most certainly use pork in this recipe and still end up with amazing results. If using pork, ensure you adjust your cooking time, depending on what cut of pork you decide to use.
I have opted to use chicken in this recipe over pork. It still has an amazing flavor, but it cooks much faster, making for an easy weeknight meal.
Start by taking all the marinade ingredients and combine them together in a large mixing bowl. Next, add in your chicken. My choice of chicken is tenderloins, their small size allows for some amazing charring on the barbecue. If using chicken breast, slice it into 2 thin halves before adding them to the marinade.
To impart the best flavor, you will want to marinate the chicken for at least 8 hours. I will often marinade the chicken the night before, making for an easy to prepare meal when you get home in the evening.
Serving the bao buns
Take your chicken and add them to your barbecue. You want to cook the chicken until it is cooked all the way through. Watch the chicken cooking, the sugars in the marinade burn easily, and while some charring is awesome, we don’t want burnt chicken. While the chicken is cooking prepare your remaining ingredients ready to serve.
Bao buns can take a while to make if prepared from scratch, and while they can taste awesome, we are trying to make a dish that can be easily cooked in the evening. Fortunately, bao buns are readily available at supermarkets and asian grocers these days, and they taste pretty decent. I typically cook the buns in a bamboo steamer over a wok filled with water. Usually this takes about 5 or so minutes from frozen to achieve amazing fluffy buns.
Next, to the buns I add thinly sliced cucumbers, pickled julienned carrot and some coriander. Chilli is an optional addition here. Take your cooked chicken and slice it on the diagonal into thin pieces. Add this to the buns and then finish with a small drizzle of Japanese mayonnaise.
Other serving ideas
Looking for other ways to serve the char siu chicken? Why not try one of the following ideas as a different way to serve the chicken:
- Serve with a side of rice and some steamed Chinese greens.
- Add with rice noodles, carrots, cucumbers and herbs to create a filling for cold rolls
- Use the chicken as a protein option as part of a salad
