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Char siu pork with hispi salad and celeriac purée by Simmie_V

  • Prep time 30 mins
  • Cook time 1 hrs
  • Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 500g pork loin, tenderloin or shoulder (if using rolled loin, remove skin – keep to make crackling – and cut in half, lengthways; if using shoulder, cut into 3 inch long strips)

For the marinade:

  • 30g honey
  • 30g hoisin sauce
  • 30g dark soy sauce
  • 1-2 cubes of red fermented tofu
  • 30g red fermented tofu liquid
  • a 1.5 inch piece of ginger, sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
  • 20g gochujang
  • 10g ground five spice mix
  • 30ml Shaoxing wine or sherry
  • a small pinch of salt

For the hispi salad:

  • 1 sweetheart cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 1 Asian pear, diced into 0.5mm cubes
  • 15g coriander leaves, finely chopped
  • 3 spring onions, finely sliced
  • 10g yuzu or lemon juice
  • 5g smoked rapeseed oil

For the celeriac purée:

  • ½ celeriac, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 1 shallot, roughly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • a 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 15ml Shaoxing wine or sherry
  • 200ml chicken stock
  • 150ml double cream
  • 10g ground five spice mix
  • salt, to taste

Method

For Porc From Wales Week 2021, we teamed up with foodie @simmie_v – aka Cardiff-based chef Simmie Vedi – to show her char siu pork recipe and why we should be choosing to source our pork locally.

Here’s what Simmie says about her recipe:

“Char siu is one of my favourite ways to eat pork. A beautiful, bright marinade with all those beautiful Chinese flavours and a whack of umami makes this a fantastic option for pork. Whether it’s for a special occasion or just with some rice for lunch, this char siu recipe is bound to have you hooked!”



  1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and cover the pork. Leave to marinate for a minimum of 6 hours, but preferably overnight.
  2. Preheat your oven to 220ºC / 200ºC fan / Gas 6.
  3. Remove the pork from the marinade, discarding any chunks of ginger, garlic or tofu. Sieve the remaining marinade to use for glazing (but do not push the marinade through the sieve as this will cause lumps in the glaze).
  4. Place the pork on a baking tray with a little oil. Roast for 30 minutes, glazing with the remaining marinade every 10 minutes or so. The marinade should char slightly on top. When ready, let the pork rest for 15 minutes (if you have a temperature probe, the pork is ready to come out of the oven when the internal temperature reads 65-75ºC).
  5. Whilst the pork is roasting, place the cubed celeriac on a baking tray and drizzle with rapeseed oil and salt. Roast for 25 minutes or until soft and a little coloured.
  6. While the pork and celeriac are roasting, place a saucepan over a low heat and sweat down the shallot, garlic and ginger for the purée. Add the ground five-spice. When everything is soft and translucent, turn up the heat to high and add a splash of Shaoxing wine. Reduce over a medium heat until the wine has reached a syrupy consistency, then add the roasted celeriac and chicken stock and reduce again for 5 minutes.
  7. Transfer this purée mix to a blender, adding the double cream gradually as you blend. Blend to a smooth paste, then pass through a sieve.
  8. For the hispi salad, combine all ingredients bar the lemon juice and oil. Dress at the last possible moment and season with salt.
  9. To serve, slice the pork to whatever thickness you prefer and plate alongside your salad and purée.
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