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Nov 25, 2014

[Recipe] Char Siew Pastry (叉烧酥)



The idea came upon making Char Siew Pastry (BBQ Pork Pastry), when I stopped by Phoon Huat for some shopping and picked up a package of puff pastry.

I've been thinking of making Char Siew Pastry for a while now, after reading this blog post by Christine of Christine's Recipes and finally got my act together. You can imagine how gleeful I was when I can have a taste of one of my favourite tim sum snack, yet have it homemade within a short time.
I am not a purist and really, I DO NOT enjoy rolling, folding & turning the dough to make my own puff pastry, it's simply too tedious and time consuming. So thank goodness for ready made puff pastry sheets. You really can't go wrong with store bought puff pastry sheets. The savings of time and energy will definitely motivate me to make more puff pastry snacks in the future.

So without further adieu, here's the recipe for making that Char Siew Pastry (叉烧酥)

Ingredients
Pastry
1 pack puff pastry sheets, thawed in the refrigerator (I used only 9 sheets of puff pastry)
1 egg beaten (add approx 1Tbsp milk and mix well); for eggwash
2-3 Tbsp Sesame seeds (optional)
*Tip: Always store the rest of the puff pastry sheets in the fridge as you work on one sheet at a time. Maintain the puff pastry in a low temperature will make it easier to handle in addition, the pastry will turn out crispy.

Filling
500gms BBQ Pork*, (叉烧), diced into small cubes
130ml Water
2-3 Tbsp of sweet char siew sauce (you can request for this from the stall owner; be sure to ask for only the sweet char siew sauce)
2 Tbsp Corn Flour
1 Tsp Dark Soya Sauce
2 Tsp Sugar
3 Shallots minced
*Note: I bought ready made char siew from the roasted meat stall at the wet market. You may make your own char siew if you like, here's a recipe for homemade char siew. To obtain the char siew sauce just follow the recipe accordingly.

Process

  • Mix all the filling ingredients, except the char siew & minced onions, in a bowl till well combined, set it aside.
  • Heat up a frying pan with 2 tsp of olive oil and fry the onions till fragrant.
  • Add the filling mixture (without the char siew) into the pan and stir constantly under low heat till the mixture thickens. 
  • Turn off the heat and tip in the chopped char siew into the mixture, mix till well combined then set it aside till it cools down completely.

  • Preheat oven to 200C, prepare baking trays with parchment paper laid.
  • Flour your work surface lightly with plain flour and lay the sheet of puff pastry down, cut the pastry sheet with a circle cutter or you may use a knife to cut the puff pastry into triangular shape. (I was able to cut approximately 5 circles out of 1 sheet of puff pastry).
Note: Ignore the 9 circles I've cut out in this photo, I realized it was too small hence changed to a larger circle cutter after which 
  • I used approximately 2 teaspoonfuls of filling to 1 circle of pastry.
  • Brush the egg wash on the edge of the pastry before folding it into half and use a fork to press down on the outer edge of the pastry (see photo below) to seal the side. Do bear in mind not to fill the circles with too much filling otherwise the sauce will start leaking out of the pastry half way during the baking process.
  • Before sending these 'babies' into the oven, brush the surface lightly with egg wash and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.
  • Bake for approximately 15-19 mins (that was the time the pastry took in my oven to turn golden brown and puffy).
  • Once baked, take the char siew pastry out and let them cool on a cooling rack.
  • Store them in air tight containers after they are completely cooled. It didn't take more than 24hours the Char Siew Pastries were all GONE *smile*
  • The pastry will turn soft after a few hours so to have the crispy crunch again on the pastry, simply heat up your toaster oven for just 5 minutes, place the char siew pastry into the toaster oven for approximately 5 minutes it should turn out crispy again.
I have shared a few other ideas on how to use the puff pastry sheets, so be sure to check them out -


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