Roast Char Sui Pork with Asparagus and Egg Fried Rice

I haven't done any Chinese cooking in a while but Mum and I were tempted by a new bright pink cookbook, The Sweet Mandarin Cookbook, so I had to give one of their recipes a go! I also like this recipe because the ingredients used to make the sauce are ones I would normally use in Chinese cooking anyway so didn't involve me spending ridiculous amounts on one-off exotic ingredients. This pork dish uses the pork tenderloin (basically the fillet) which is actually very good value for money compared to beef and chicken fillets.  Buying from a good butcher will ensure the pork is from high welfare farms and trimmed properly so that it isn't too fatty. For four people I used two medium sized tenderloins, approx 300-400g each.

The trick to this recipe is leaving the meat to marinade, and the rice to cool, over night, however I tried doing both in the afternoon before eating that evening and it was still delicious. The original recipe uses hoisin sauce and dark soy sauce which aren't gluten free, however some supermarkets sell a Tamari soy sauce which is a good gluten free replacement for both.

Ingredients serves 4
2 medium sized pork tenderloins (from high welfare farms)
3 cloves garlic crushed (2 for the pork, 1 for the rice)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons Tamari soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
2 teaspoons sesame oil (I used sesame seeds instead)

enough rice for 4 people
3 eggs beaten
3 spring onions finely chopped

1 large bunch of asparagus


The night before/afternoon: start by placing your pork tenderloins in a large dish. In a saucepan mix the brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, rice wine, paprika, five spice and sesame oil over a high heat until the mixture starts to boil. Leave to cool.

Massage the tenderloins with 2 cloves of crushed garlic and pour over the cooled marinade, again rubbing into the meat. Wrap the dish with foil and leave in the fridge until you want to start cooking.
Add the rice to boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Drain and leave to cool before placing in the fridge. Cooling the rice down helps to create that fried rice texture when you later cook it.

The evening you want to eat: preheat the oven to 200C. Remove the pork from the fridge and place in a roasting dish, pouring on any excess marinade. Cook for 20 minutes before removing from the oven, turning and basting in the excess juices. At this heat I would keep an eye throughout because there is so much sugar in the sauce. If it looks like it is beginning to burn up, add 200ml of boiling water to the pan, it will help make a sauce at the end too. Cook for a further 20 minutes.

In the meantime you can make your egg fried rice. In a wok, heat some sunflower oil on a high heat. Add your beaten eggs and scramble. Add your chopping spring onion and crushed garlic, continuously stirring so that it doesn't burn. After a couple of minutes add your rice, turn down the heat, and mix in well to break down any clumps where the rice has stuck together. Cook for about 10 minutes to get the heat through the rice, and add a dash of soy sauce for flavour.

In another saucepan bring your asparagus just to the boil. Quickly drain, and about 5 minutes before you are ready to remove the pork, fry in a griddle pan with a splash of shaoxing rice wine for flavour.

Remove the pork from the oven and slice diagonally. Arrange neatly on top of the asparagus, and serve with a big bowl of egg fried rice. The juices from the pork can be boiled down to make a sauce.