Bak Kua/Chinese Pork Jerky Recipes

This is another must have snack for Chinese New Year. Who doesn’t like Bak Kua? Maybe if you are a health nut than you might stay away from it. For me Chinese New Year is the time to indulge into all the sinful food, cookies and other luxury snacks that we don’t eat often. Bak Kua variously translated as dried meat, grilled Chinese Pork Jerky or BBQ meat slices.

Back in Malaysia you can get this jerky all year round but strangely, most people will eat this only during CNY. Many people are willing to queue for hours during this time of the year just to get their hands on the BBQ meat from their favorite store. My family is very picky over our bak kua. We only eat the bak kua from a certain store and it has to be lean and doesn’t have the rancid porky smell.

Living here I don’t have the luxury of eating Malaysia Bak Kua. I am able to buy them in New York but they do not taste good at all. They claimed to be made by Malaysian but it just doesn’t have the taste of the one from home. I tried making this once but it didn’t turn out too well either. It was too oily (because of the fatty ground pork) and the taste was out. I didn’t like it at all. So I stay away from making this for a few years.

I tried making it again this year by tweaking the recipe and lo and behold, it turns out really good. The meat was well marinate, a great balance of sweet and savory with a hint of fruity orange. I used mostly lean meat and I made everything in the oven. No more grilling it outside in the super cold winter. You should see me when I first made this. I was standing at the grill in my heavy winter clothing. My neighbors must be thinking this woman was MAD ha ha… If you want a healthier bak kua with no chemicals and preservatives why not try to make it at home. Since this bak Kua has no preservatives, try to consume it within a few days. I don’t recommend you make too much of it at one time unless you want to give it away to family and friends. These keeps well in the fridge and just reheat it in the toaster oven before consuming.

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground pork –with a bit of fat on it
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp dark brown sugar
Juice of half orange (about 4 tbsp)
Zest of one orange

1. Line 2 baking pan with heavy aluminum foil and set it aside.
2. Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using a big spoon mix it really well. Cover with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the fridge for an hour.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degree F. Spread the marinate meat thinly onto the baking sheets. Use a spatula or the back of the spoon to do this and dipping it in water occasionally. This way it will prevent the meat from sticking to the spoon or spatula.
4. Place the baking pan in the oven and let it bake slowly for 35-40 minutes. At this stage you can see juices appear, the meat will shrink and the edges dry out.
5. Remove from oven and cool it down a bit and cut it into square with pizza cutter or scissors. Turn the oven to broil.
6. Line the cut meat back on the tray. Broil the meat on both side until brown and sizzle . This will only take 5-6 minutes (you have to watch this as it turn dark pretty fast)
7. Let it cool and keep it in an air-tight container.

Note: I put a bit too much of black soy sauce that is why the bak kua look a bit dark. I already adjust the quantity of the black soy sauce in the recipe. If you like to grill this, you can do so. Just cut and grill it after step 5.

Chicken Rendang/Dry Chicken Curry Recipes

I always have a soft spot for chicken or beef Rendang. That is the very first Malay dish I learned to cook from my friend Kak Zuliah mom’s many years ago. Now there are so many ready packed rendang paste but I still prefer to cook it from scratch as most of the ingredients are readily available here. I even plant my own kaffir lime and turmeric plants now. Turmeric can’t survive the winter so I cut all the leaves up and freeze it so that I can use it whenever I want. The ingredients are pretty similar to my beef rendang; the only difference would be the cooking time as the chicken get tender pretty fast compare to beef.

Ingredients:

1 chicken – around 2.5 pounds
3 fresh turmeric leaves – sliced thinly (optional)
3 tbsp of kerisik (coconut paste)
3 kaffir lime leaves (limau purut)
2 cup of coconut milk + some water
Salt and palm sugar/sugar to taste

To blend into paste:

10 shallots
2" of lengkuas (galangal)
2" of ginger
2 stalk of lemongrass
4 cloves of garlic
10 dried chilies (soaked until soft)
10 fresh red chilies
2” fresh turmeric or 2 tbsp of turmeric powder
2 tbsp meat curry powder

For Kerisik (coconut paste)

1 cup of fresh grated coconut

1. In a non-stick pan, dry fry the grated coconut until golden brown.
2. Removed and blend it into paste while it is still hot until it is fine and paste like.

1. Clean, remove skin and fats from the chicken. Cut the chicken into medium size pieces.
2. Heat about 3 tbsp of oil in a wok and gently fry the blended paste for 2 minutes or until slightly dry and fragrant.
3. Add in the chicken and continue to stir-fry until the chicken changes color. Add in coconut milk and enough water to cover the chicken. Bring it to boil. Roughly tear up the kaffir lime leaves and add it into the beef. Reduce heat to simmer.
4. Cover and simmer and stir occasionally and cook until meat is tender. If the dish dries up too fast, do add a little more hot water or coconut milk to it.
5. Add in palm sugar, salt to taste. Add in the turmeric leaves and kerisik (coconut paste) and cook till the sauce dries up. Serve with warm rice.

Note: The level of spiciness can be adjusted to your liking. The same recipe can also be used in the same way for beef and lamb

I am submitting this dish to Muhibbah Malaysia Monday

For more details please refer here

Asian Style Ribs Recipes

These are one finger licking ribs. The meat is so tender and juicy that it falls off the bones easily. The sauce is sweet, tangy and with a light hint of 5 spice powder. The secret of cooking this tender ribs is wrap it up in foil and let it cook long and slow in the oven. Normally we will grill it on the BBQ after the baking part but since we already clean up BBQ set so I did it all in the oven. The results are just as good except minus for the smoky flavor.

Ingredients:

3 pound of ribs
1 tsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1/4 cup light soy sauce
3 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Spare Ribs sauce
1 large orange juice and zest
½ tsp 5 spice powder
1 tsp pepper
3 tbsp dark brown sugar

1. Clean, trim off excess fat from both side and remove the removed the membrane from the back side of the ribs (Insert a knife under the membrane, then your fingers ,work a section loose, grip it with a paper towel, and peel it off)
2. Combined all the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pat the ribs dry and season both sides generously with marinates. Set it aside to marinate for at least 4 hours.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F. Wrap the ribs up with a large piece of aluminum foil. Place the ribs in a large sheet pan and let it bake for 1.5 hours. The ribs should be done and fall off the bone by now and if not let it bake for another half an hour.
4. Open up the foil and pour out all the sauce/juice from the baked ribs into a small saucepan. Skim off the fats if there is any and bring the sauce up to boil it let it thickens. Brush the sauce all over the ribs.
5. Switch the oven to broil, and broil the ribs until caramelize and golden brown. Let it cool down for 15 min before cutting into it.

Note: Keep a close watch on the ribs when you broil them as they get burn pretty quick.

Ground Beef Chili Recipes

The weather here in PA is telling me it’s time for some Chili. For anyone who is not familiar with the cuisine of the Southwestern United States, this stew-like dish called Chili may be a bit puzzling. Yes, it does usually contain green hot peppers as well as chili powder. The Chili has meat in it and it could be ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey, but Chili can be a vegetarian dish too. You can replace the ground meat with tofu cubes. There are Chili recipes with or without beans, but if you use beans any type of bean will work, including red beans, black beans, white beans, pinto beans, and more. This is an easy, healthy, hearty and inexpensive meal and everyone will love.

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 large onion - chopped
4 cloves garlic – chopped
1 green bell pepper – diced small
1 can 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes
1 can red beans – rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 beef stock cube
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
2 tbsp Worstershire sauce
1 -2 cups water
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

1. Heat up about 2 tbsp olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add in chopped garlic, onions and bell pepper. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add in beef, cook and stir until beef is done. If there access
2. Transfer the beef mixture to a heavy stock pot and add in all the remaining ingredients. Add in enough water to cover the meat. Stir thoroughly, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Check seasoning.
3. Serve warm with some corn bread, crackers or bread.

Herbs Fried Rice Recipes

I think everyone knows how to make good plate of fried rice. I’ve fried tons of it my life using different type of ingredients and by far I think this is my favorite. My friend Richard told me one day he uses herbs like kaffir lime leaves and curry leaves from his garden to make his fried rice and it turn out really good. What a great idea for a change from our regular fried rice. Inspired by his fried rice this is something I came up with. I hope you try this out as I am sure you are going to like it too.

Ingredients:

3 cups of cooked rice – overnight rice prefer
1 piece of chicken breast – cut into small cubes
10 pieces of shrimps – peel and deveined
2 eggs - beaten
2 shallots – sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 lemon grass – removed the hard outer layers and slice thinly
3 bird eye chilies – cut small
1 sprig of curry leaves – remove rib, roll it up and sliced thinly
3 kaffir lime leaves – remove the rib, roll it up and sliced thinly
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat up wok on high heat and add in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Put in shallots, ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant. Add in chilies, lemongrass, curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves. Continue to stir fry until you can smell all the spices.
2. Add in the chicken and continue to stir fry until the chicken changes color. Add in shrimp; stir fry until the shrimp is slightly pink.
3. Push all the meat to the side of the wok, add in another tbsp of oil, and pour in the eggs. Scramble the eggs for a few second or until half cook, add in the rice and all the seasoning.
4. Continue to stir fry for another 3 minutes. Check seasoning, dish out and serve warm.

Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce Recipes

Weather is getting cold now and the days seem to be shorter, dark and dreary. Today is another cold and rainy day here in PA and it makes me crave for some comfort food. What can be more comforting than a bowl of meaty noodles? When I first saw this interesting recipe at Kokken 69 back in August I was intrigued by it and bookmarked it right away. Since I have all the ingredients in my fridge I cook this for our lunch. Just like Shirley said this sauce is meaty, flavorful and versatile. You may used the sauce on your steamed rice, noodles, blanched vegetables, porridge, etc. This is my quick version of the meat sauce but for the original recipe and version please refer here .

Ingredients:

300 gram ground pork (you can replace it with ground chicken, beef or turkey)
3 pcs dried shitake mushroom – soak until soft and cut into small cubes
3 shallots – sliced thinly
100 -150 ml chicken stock (depend on how saucy you like)

Marinate for meat

1 tbsp soy sauce
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cornstarch

Seasoning

1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 ½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp 5 spice powder
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

1. Season the ground meat and set it aside. Heat up the wok with a bit of oil and fry the sliced shallots until lightly brown and crispy. Remove and drain the oil.
2. In the same wok and oil, stir fry the mushroom until fragrant. Add in the marinated ground meat; stir fry until the meat changes color. Add in all the seasonings. Adjust the seasonings according to your liking.
3. Add chicken stock and let it simmer on low heat for 15 min. Add crispy fried shallots. Continue to cook another 10 minutes or until the gravy thickens. Check seasonings.  Remove and serve with rice or noodles.

Tonkatsu Recipes

Tonkatsu is so popular in Japan that there are even restaurants that only serve tonkatsu and similar items such as kushikatsu (bite-sized fried bits of pork and other things on a skewer). Tonkatsu - ton is pig or pork, and katsu derives from the word cutlet. While Tonkatsu is typically served with a sweet brown sauce, we like ours drizzle with mayo.

Since Tonkatsu is a simple dish that requires very few ingredients, the quality of the ingredients are important. In this case it’s crucial that you use a good piece of pork, otherwise you may end up with a tough leathery meat. I like using  boneless center-cut pork chop. Another key ingredient for tonkatsu is panko. You can buy panko at the Asian store of any supermarket. Just look at the international section.

Ingredients:

4  pork chops (about 3/4" thick)
some flour for dredging
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg beaten
1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
oil for frying

1. Remove the fats from the meat. Using a mallet or rolling pin, give the meat a few bashes to tenderized and flatten out the meat. Salt and pepper both sides of each cutlet then dredge them in flour, making sure to get an even coat on the sides. Shake off excess flour.
2. Get two shallow bowls and beat an egg in one, and add the panko to the other. Heat up the oil into a heavy bottomed pot and heat over medium heat.
3. Coat a cutlet in egg then transfer to the bowl with the panko. Shake the bowl to evenly coat the cutlet, and then press on the cutlet to get a nice thick coating of panko. Flip and press on the other side then repeat with the rest of the cutlets
4. Once the oil is hot, gently lower the cutlets into the oil, once the cutlets are golden brown on one side, carefully flip them over and brown the other side. Continue cooking until the golden brown and the meat is done. Transfer to a paper towel lined wire rack and let it rest of about 5 minutes before cutting into it.
5. Serve it with your favorite salad.

Fried Wonton Recipes

No one can resist this crispy appetizer. It is such a crowd pleaser especially in gathering or party. I will never order this dish at any Chinese restaurant or dim sum place as it is so easy to make it yourself. I’ve tried out so many version of it like stuffing it with beef, turkey, chicken and tofu but I still like the traditional kind which is pork and shrimps. I made these for Diana when she came home a few weeks ago.

Ingredients:

400 grm ground pork
200 grm shrimp - roughly chopped
3 spring onions – finely chopped
1 carrot – finely grated
10 water chestnut – cut into small cubes
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 egg white
1 packet of wonton wrappers

Seasonings:

1 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sesame oil
Salt to taste

1. In a large mixing bowl mix all the ingredients together except for the wrappers. Mix well and set it aside to marinate for an hour.
2. There is a few ways of wrapping the wonton. For today I just wrap it in triangle shapes. Put a tsp of filling to the center of the wrapper, brush all the edges with a bit of water and fold it into triangle shape. Do the same to the rest of the filling.
3. Heat up you oil. Deep fry the wonton in badges until golden brown. Remove and drain the oil on some paper towels.
4. Serve warm or at room temperature with some chili sauce.

Almond Crusted Meat and Shrimp Balls Recipes

This tasty finger food is great for parties or gatherings. I remember eating something similar at a wedding banquet but I forgot what was in the balls so I recreated something with whatever I have in the freezer. If you're not a fan of sliced almonds you can always roll it out in tiny little white bread cubes.

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground meat (can be chicken, pork, turkey or beef)
½ pound shrimps – shell and deveined
1 medium size carrot – peel and grated
10 water chestnuts – cut into small cubes
3 green onions – cut small
2 tbsp of cornstarch
2 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine – optional
Salt and white pepper to taste


For coating

1 ½ cups sliced almond

1. Add shrimp in a food processor, using the metal blade process it for a few seconds, until shrimp is pasty.
2. Remove and mix in all the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Let it marinate for an hour.
3. With a wet hand shape the mixture into 1 inch balls. Drop them into the almond slices and roll to coat. Do the same to the rest.
4. Heat up oil in a deep pan, turn the heat to medium and drop the balls into the oil carefully. Deep fry until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve with some chili sauce.

Curry Noodles/ Curry Laksa Recipes

There are times Diana and I will crave for a bowl of piping hot curry laksa. Making the laksa broth from scratch takes a lot of works so we opted using the ready mix laksa paste. There are so may type of premix paste out there but our favorite is still Tean’s Gourmet brand. We are lucky that we are able to get this laksa paste here so I will always keep a few packets handy my pantry. Preparing this noodles dish is easy and you can have dinner on your table in less than half an hour. All you have to do is add some water, coconut milk and the Laksa broth is done. As for the condiments it is all up to you. You can add noodles, tofu puffs, long beans, eggs, bean sprouts and etc to it. Nothing is more comforting to me than a good bowl of curry noodles.

Ingredients:

1 packet of Curry Laksa Paste
1 can of coconut milk
2 cups of bean sprouts – remove the roots
20 pcs of shrimps – peel and deveined
12 pieces of tofu puffs – wash and squeeze out the oil
Some fish balls/shrimp balls or fish cakes
A small bunch of long beans – cut into 1” length
4 hard boiled eggs
A packet of yellow noodles
Salt and sugar to taste.

1. Boil some water in a medium size saucepan and blanch the bean sprout for 20 seconds. Remove and blanch the noodles for 1 minute. Remove and drain.
2. in a big pot, bring 1000 ml water to boil. Add in the paste, long beans and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. By this time you can see some oil floating on the top of the broth. Remove some of it.
3 Add in the fish/shrimp balls, prawns, tofu puffs. Let the soup simmer for another 2 minutes until the shrimps is cook and the balls are heated through. Add in the coconut milk. Stir and bring it up to a slow boil and turn off the heat. Check seasoning as you might need to add some salt to it.
4. To serve, put a handful of noodles at the bottom of the bowl, tops it with bean sprouts and eggs. Put in the laksa broth together with shrimps, long beans, fish cakes, fish balls and tofu puffs. Serve warm.

I am submitting this dish to Muhibbah Malaysian Monday blog event. Find out more on this here

Graham Cracker Crusted Chicken Bites Recipes

I woke up this morning feeling like I wanted to eat something comforting for lunch. What can be more comforting than fried chicken, right? Since I only have chicken breast in the freezer so I just used that rather than going out to buy the whole chicken in the super hot weather. These crispy chicken chunks are just perfect as an appetizer or snack. The graham cracker coating gives a slight sweetness to the chicken.

Ingredients:

3 pcs chicken breast – cut into bite size chunks
1 ½ cup of graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp flour


Marinate:

½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

1. Mix all the marinate ingredients together and toss in the chicken chunks. Leave it in the fridge and let it marinate for 2 hours.
2. Heat up some oil in a frying pan. Combined the graham cracker crumbs and flour together. Coat the marinated chicken with the crumbs and fry it in the medium heat oil until golden brown.
3. Remove the chicken pieces and drain the oil on paper town and serve it.

Note: If you can't find Graham Crackers you can always replace it with Digestive Biscuits.

Chicken Tikka Masala Recipes

I cooked this simple Chicken Tikka Masala to go with my Garlic and Cilantro Naan Bread. Normally this dish is cook with Chicken Tikka (baked chicken pieces that have been marinated in yogurt and spices) but I just used fresh chicken pieces in mine.


Ingredients:

1 pound chicken meat - cut into bite size pieces
1 medium size onions – finely chopped
3 cloves garlic - chopped
1” ginger- finely chopped
1 can (15 oz)chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp of plain yogurt
3 tbsp of Ghee or oil
½ tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Make into paste with a bit of water:

2 tbsp chili powder (depend on the spiciness you like)
2 tbsp garam masala powder
1 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder

1. Heat the ghee or oil in a cooking pan. When oil is hot add in the onions and fry until lightly brown. Add in the garlic and ginger. Continue to stir-fry until fragrant
2. Add the mix spices paste for two minutes or until fragrant (you can add a bit of water if necessary). Add the tomatoes and continuously stir it for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
3. Add in the chicken cubes and stir fry until the chicken pieces nicely coated with the sauce. Add in about 1 cup of water; bring it up to boil, lower down the heat and covered. Stir the chicken occasionally. Add in sugar, salt and yogurt.
4. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes or until sauce thickens. Dish out and serve warm with rice or naan bread.

Grilled Mayonnaise Black Pepper Wings Recipes

When I saw this recipe at my friend Shereen's blog I know I have to try it out. Shereen used chicken pieces for this but since I am a big fan of wings I used that instead. The wings turn out really yummy! The wings were full of flavor; just melt in your mouth, fall of the bones and finger liking good.

Ingredients:

8 – 10 pcs chicken wings
1 tsp black pepper
4 cm fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sweet soy sauce/kicap manis
2 ½ tbsp of mayonnais
salt to taste

1. Clean and wash chicken wings and pat it dry.
2. Put the rest of the ingredients into a blender and blend into a paste.
3. Marinate the wings with the paste for at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degree F. Line a sheet pan with some aluminum foil. Drizzle it with some olive oil. Spread wings over the base.
5. Roast for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the wings half way through the baking. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: Sorry I can’t put recipe blog link here as it is a private blog. Thanks Shereen for sharing this great recipe.

Chicken Varuval with Potatoes Recipes

Whenever I think of eating something flavorful and spicy I will make this dish. This is a dish that I will cook over and over again so much so that even Carlos is eating it now. He actually finished over half a plate of it that day. I have another recipe of Chicken Varuval here but this time I did some slight changes to it and also added some potatoes to the dish. Although the list of ingredients might looks like a lot but it does not take a long of time to make this. For this dish you can adjust the level of spiciness to your liking.

Ingredients:

3 pieces chicken breast – cut into bite size pieces
1 stick cinnamon
2 cardamom pods
3 medium size potatoes
2 green chilies - sliced
1 medium size onions – sliced thinly
A small bunch curry leaves
1 tsp black pepper
Salt and sugar to taste

Grind into paste:

5 cloves garlic
2” ginger
4 shallots
½ tsp salt

Make into a paste with a bit of water

3 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp chili powder (more or less depend on how spicy you like)
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder

1. Clean and cut the chicken, marinate it with the blended paste for half an hour. In the meantime peel and cut potatoes into bite size pieces and pan fried it until soft and set it aside.
2. Heat up about 4 tbsp of oil in a non- pan, add in cinnamon stick and cardamon pods. Stir fry until fragrant and add in the chicken, and spread it evenly into a layer and let it pan fried until lightly brown on one side and turn it over and do the same to the other side.
3. Once the chicken is evenly brown, move the chicken to the side of the frying pan and add in the curry paste. Continue the stir the paste until fragrant. Add in the onions, curry leaves and chili. Mix everything together and well coated with the paste. Add in about ½ cup of water and stir until well combined. Add in a bit of salt and sugar.
4. Add in the potatoes, stir, and lower down the heat and cover. Let it simmer until everything is cooked and water evaporated. Add in black pepper, Stir well and check seasoning.
5. Dish out and serve with warm rice.

Roast Pork/Siew Yoke Recipes

**Non-Halal**

It is not easy to find tasty roast pork here in the US. They are either too salty or the skin is not crispy enough. The best siew yoke is still the one from Malaysia or the homemade ones. Making siew yoke is actually fairly easy. The most important is scored the skin of the meat, marinate it the day before and let the meat dry out in the fridge overnight before roasting it the next day. The last time I made this was over a year ago. Since we ladies is having a get together next week to make this so I had a test on this recipe again. Let me tell you the meat turn out perfect. The skin was crispy, the meat was juicy and it is definitely taste so much better than the one sold outside. Even Carlos who is not a fan of pork said it was really good.

Ingredients:

A piece of pork belly – about 1.5 pound
1 piece fermented red bean curd (Nam Yee)
1 tsp of 5 spice powder
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of sugar

For the skin:

1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of white vinegar

Scored the skin all over with a sharp knife

Removed the charring bits with a paring knife
1. Washed and pat dry the meat. Use a sharp knife, score the skin all over.
2. In a small bowl add in fermented bean curd, 5 spice powder, salt, garlic and sugar. Mix well and rub it all over the meat side of the pork.
3. Place the pork belly, meat side down on a baking tray. Then rub the other 1 tsp of salt all over the skin.
4. Place the meat uncovered in the refrigerator overnight until an hour before roasting. The air in the fridge will dry out the pork skin.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degree F. Place the meat on a rack, skin side up and put a tray underneath the rack with some water in it to catch the fat dripping while roasting so the drips won’t smoke up your oven.
6. Brush the skin with vinegar. Roast about 50 minutes and at this stage you can see the skin started to bubble and blister all over
7. Switch the oven to grill/broil, move the meat closer to the top and let the skin crackle all over. This will take another 10-15 minutes.
8. Let the meat rest for 15 min before cutting into it.

Look at the bubble and blister on the skin
Note: If the skin gets too charred you can always scrape it away with a paring knife.