Many of our Foodie participants absolutely love the barbecued pork (char siu) tasting on our Central & Sheung Wan Foodie Tour. Some even ask us how to make them at home. We published the home-made recipe below during COVID when we could not go out to dine much. We are re-publishing it now. Reading this already makes us salivate. Try it and let us know how it compares to the ones you tried on our food tour.

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Marinate Time: overnight

Ingredients

600 gm / 21 oz / 1 catty Boston Butt/Pork Shoulder/梅頭

Marinade:
70 gm / 2.5 oz Maltose / 麥芽糖 （or replace with honey but best to use maltose)
60 ml / 2 oz Light Soy Sauce / 生抽
30 gm / 1 oz Oyster Sauce / 蠔油 (or replace with dark soy sauce and sugar)
30 gm / 1 oz Sugar / 糖
20 ml / 0.7 oz Rice Wine / 米酒 or Rose Wine / 玫瑰露酒
2 slices/片 Ginger/ 薑
2 cloves/瓣 Garlic / 蒜頭
White pepper / 白糊椒粉

Glaze:
30 gm / 1 oz Honey
30 gm / 1 oz Water
Can prepare more if you’d like. Just 1:1 Honey:Water

1. Rinse and dry the piece of pork. Rub some white pepper all over the piece of pork.

2. Double boil the maltose to melt it. To double boil, spoon out the maltose into a bowl and place the bowl in a pot of boiling water. You can turn off the heat on the stove and let it melt slowly. If you need more heat, turn heat to low for a few minutes. The maltose is ready when it’s softened and can easily be stirred.

3. Mix the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, rice wine or rose wine with the maltose. Stir until the ingredients are combined. If the mixture is still hot, cool by putting the bowl of mixture in an ice bath until it’s cooler.

4. Put the piece of pork in a ziplock bag. Pour the marinade into the bag together with the ginger and garlic. Let it sit in the fridge overnight or at least 8 hours.

5. Preheat the oven to 200C or 400F, preferably with the fan function if available for your often.

6. Prepare your baking tray. Line it with aluminum foil or add some water to help you clean more easily afterwards. Put a meat rack on the baking tray and lay the piece of pork on the rack.

7. Glaze your pork with the honey and water mixture.

8. Roast the pork for 30 minutes. After every 10 minutes, add more glaze.

9. Turn on the grill function for the five more minutes. Grill each side for 2.5 minutes to slightly sear the BBQ pork.

10. Let the barbecued pork cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

The post Hong Kong Styled Barbecued Pork Recipe (叉燒) appeared first on Hong Kong Foodie.

Cook & Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 slices White bread without the skin
2 tbsp Smooth peanut butter
10 grams Butter
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Golden syrup or pancake syrup
300ml Cooking oil (vegetable oil or canola oil or peanut oil)

Steps:

1. Cut off the skin of the white bread (if any).
2. Spread the smooth peanut butter on one piece of the bread and cover with the other piece.
3. Soak the peanut butter sandwich into beaten eggs. Make sure the entire sandwich, including the edges are fully coated with eggs.
4. Heat the oil until you see bubbles when you dip a wooden chopstick into the oil.
5. Fry the sandwich on each side for about 1.5 minutes or until golden brown. Don’t forget the edges!
6. Place the Hong Kong styled french toast on some paper towel to remove the excess oil.
7. Serve on plate, melt the butter all over the toast and pour some golden syrup to taste!

Tips:

For those who are allergic to peanuts, feel free to use any other filling such as plain butter or kaya butter.

Sharing is caring. We recommend you share this heavy treat with a loved one!

To learn more about colonial cha chaan tengs foods such as egg tarts and pineapple buns, you will get a chance to try them on our Central & Sheung Wan Foodie Tour and Sham Shui Po Foodie Tour!

If you use this recipe to make your own Hong Kong Styled French Toast, don’t forget to share the toast with someone and share your pictures on your social media and add #HongKongBellyKitchen!

The post Hong Kong Styled French Toast Recipe (西多士) appeared first on Hong Kong Foodie.

Have you ever tried Chinese dessert like Sweet Peanut Soup? Sweet soups are very popular among locals, especially after dinner. One of the tasting locations on our Temple Street Night Foodie Tour is a traditional Chinese dessert shop which has remained popular among nearby residents for nearly a century.

You might have seen many kinds of sweet soups such as almond soup, black sesame soup, walnut soup, cashew soup. The steps to make these sweet soups are similar. We will show you how to make sweet peanut soup, which is harder to find outside.

Cook Time: <10 minutes
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Serves six bowls

Ingredients:

200g Raw peanuts (can be substituted with unsalted, non-roasted peanuts)
2 teaspoons Rice
350ml Water (for peanut blending)
80-120g Rock sugar (depending on how sweet you like)
500ml Water (for cooking)

Steps:

1. Fry/ Toast the raw peanuts with the skin (not the case/ shells!) on in a wok or frying pan for about seven minutes or until they turn golden brown with great aroma. (Do not add anything else, no oil needed.)
2. Wash and soak the white rice.
3. Let the peanuts cool and use your hands to remove the skin.
4. Remove the water in the rice.
5. Blend the peanuts, the soaked raw rice and 350ml water for 30 seconds. To avoid overheating, let the blender rest for 1 minute and continue blending for another 30 seconds. Repeat this step for about 8-10 times or until you get the desired consistency, which should be like thick puree.
6. Bring the 500ml water to a boil and add the rock sugar to let it melt.
7. As the sugar water comes to a boil, add the blended peanut paste. Keep stirring and cook over low heat for about five minutes. 

Tips:

1. Don’t overcook as the sweet peanut soup will get thicker over heat.
2. If the soup turns out to be thicker than your desired consistency, you can always add more water to make it less thick.
3. Traditional Chinese sweet soup is usually in a puree texture. You shouldn’t be looking for a broth-like liquid.

If you use this recipe to make your own Sweet Peanut Soup, remember to share on your social media and add #HongKongBellyKitchen!

The post Sweet Peanut Soup Recipe (花生糊) appeared first on Hong Kong Foodie.

For Hong Kong Foodie, cooler weather means claypot rice! On our Temple Street Night Foodie Tour, our Foodie Guides might have recommended you several places in the neighborhood for some delicious claypot rice. Very often, these eateries have long queues, especially in the winter. With our recipe below, you can now try to make it at home!

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Serves two people

Ingredients

1 cup Rice
3/4 cup Water (use a full cup of water if your claypot rice doesn’t use spare ribs or any meat with marinade)
150 gram Spare ribs
1 piece Pork Chinese sausage (diced)
1 piece Liver Chinese sausage (diced)

Marinade for spare ribs:
1 tablespoon Light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Oil
1/2 teaspoon Corn starch
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/3 teaspoon Sugar

Black bean sauce:
1 tablespoon Fermented black beans
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 piece Chili (seeds removed if you prefer less hot), sliced
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
1.5 tablespoon Water
Sweet soy sauce (optional for using meats without marinade): 
3 tablespoons Light soy sauce
2 tablespoons Sugar

1. Marinate the spare ribs.
2. Rinse the black beans to clean out the dirt. Mince the black beans together with the garlic using the back of the handle of a knife. Add sugar and water to the mixture.
3. Mix the black bean sauce with the spare ribs just before you start to cook the rice.
4. Add rice and water to a small claypot or cast iron pot and cook on medium heat with lid on. (Best to use a gas stove instead of an electric stove.)
5. After cooking for about 3 minutes or when the rice becomes bubbly, stir it and make sure the rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pot.
6. Add the spare ribs and the diced Chinese sausages on top and cover the pot.
7. After 1 minute, turn the heat down to low and cook for 10-12 more minutes.
8. Turn off the stove, let it sit for 8 more minutes without taking off the lid.
9. Depending on the pot you use, if the rice in the bottom of the pot has not yet become crispy and you want to get the crispy rice, turn the heat back up on low for 2-3 extra minutes.
10. Top the spare ribs with the pieces of chili. Serve the claypot rice hot. If you use other meats with less flavorful marinade, feel free to add in the sweet soy sauce.

The post Claypot Rice Recipe (煲仔飯) appeared first on Hong Kong Foodie.