🍚 Char siu rice
Char siu rice is a Cantonese one-plate meal of sliced barbecue pork laid over steamed white rice, with blanched bok choy and a drizzle of oyster sauce. The sweet, caramelised pork contrasts with plain rice and crisp greens. It is a staple of Hong Kong roast-meat shops and cha chaan teng cafés, served quickly as an everyday lunch.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g char siu (roast pork), sliced
- 300 g cooked jasmine rice
- 200 g bok choy, halved
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce mixed with 2 tbsp hot water
- 1 tsp vegetable oil, salt
Method
- Warm the sliced char siu in a low oven or steamer.
- Blanch the bok choy in salted boiling water with the oil for 1–2 minutes and drain.
- Divide the hot rice between plates and lay the pork on top.
- Add the bok choy on the side and spoon the oyster sauce over the meat and greens.
How to make it lighter
- Ask for or serve half the usual rice and double the bok choy.
- Trim the fattier slices of char siu and keep 100–120 g of meat per plate.
- Spoon the sauce over the greens rather than soaking the rice in it.
History
Char siu rice comes from Cantonese siu mei shops, which sell roast meats over rice to workers in a hurry. It remains one of the most ordered lunches in Hong Kong and in Chinatowns abroad.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →