CHOP CHOP!

How to turn Chinatown's BBQ meats into a perfectly delightful meal or two. Stretch and save, stretch and save.

It’s called “eat one, get one free”. Order a big platter of BBQ suckling pig or soy chicken at your next Chinese meal, have some on the spot, then pack up the left-overs to take home.

Or queue at the Chinatown BBQ shop for a half white-cut chicken and a chunk of char siu pork to take away, go to town with it that night for dinner and you’ll still have enough for another meal.

Oh joy of joys, all that meaty goodness with its built-in flavour. And all you have to do is throw together a vehicle to carry it further. Toss it with a busload of greens, say, or chuck it in the back of a culinary ute, like an omelette. (I may have driven this metaphor too far). Point is, this is a great cheat-and-eat strategy.

Some thoughts on what to do with left-over BBQ meats:

# Slip fingers of roast duck into Singapore curry laksa or a Thai red curry.

# Chop-chop char siu roast pork and scatter through just-steamed jasmine rice with a small can of corn kernels and a handful of frozen peas for an instant not-fried rice. (This may sound commonplace but it is very delicious).

# Finely slice white-cut chicken and fold into a crusty bread roll with salad, pickles and a smear of chicken liver pate for a quick banh mi.

# Chop-chop the chicken, duck or pork for a lettuce-wrapped san choy bau, instead of using minced pork or chicken.

# Douse a block of silken tofu in a deep, dark sauce of soy, oyster sauce and kecap manis, then shower with flash-fried sliced roast pork and spring onions.

# Do endless variations of the above on repeat, with ramen noodles, omelette, dumplings, curry and rice dishes such as nasi goreng.

There’s just one thing you have to remember when you buy at a BBQ meats shop:

MAKE SURE YOU GET THE SAUCE! (Sorry to yell, but it’s important).

For roasted meats, you’ll be given a small container of the dark, slightly sweetened duck juices, heady with star anise. For chicken, it will (or should) be a gloriously salty spring-like concoction of spring onion and ginger wilted into oil. Use the sauce as the basis for your own cooking, or in this bright and breezy salad, use it as the base for the vinaigrette.

Also, don’t refrigerate your Chinatown feast - plan ahead so you dine on it same day.

If you do have to refrigerate overnight, then gently warm up the meats in a fry-pan to take off the chill and get the juices moving again. The oven is too drying, and can turn jellied chicken and caramelised pork into blah.

Not much for non-meat eaters this week, except for a spring onion and ginger sauce that would be beautiful draped over a warm, shimmering block of silken tofu.

BBQ MEATS SALAD

Crunchy greens, leafy herbs, your choice of pork, chicken or duck - and a dressing that’s built on ginger and spring onion sauce. Serves two as a shared meal.

• 1 bunch broccolini

• half bunch coriander

• 4 spring onion greens

• Half nashi pear (optional)

• 300 g mixed Chinese BBQ meats, thinly sliced

• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

• 1 tbsp beer nuts (peanuts with skins), roughly smashed

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp spring onion and ginger sauce

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp caster sugar

• Sea salt and pepper

Cut the broccolini, separating the stalks and florets, then cut the stalks on the diagonal, aiming to have longish thinnish pieces that will cook quickly.

Cook the broccolini florets and stalks in simmering salted water for 1 to 2 minutes until bright green and softly crunchy, then drain.

Cool the broccolini quickly in cold water, then drain again.

Pick the leaves from the coriander, leaving some stalk.

Slice the spring onion greens on the diagonal.

Halve and core the nashi pear and thinly slice.

Prep the BBQ meats – I always slice the already-chopped pieces in half again to have more elegant thin slices.

In a large bowl, whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together and adjust to taste or lighten with a little water.

Toss the broccolini, spring onions and coriander in half the dressing and arrange on two plates.

Gently toss the BBQ meats and nashi pear in remaining dressing and arrange on top, or give them all a light tumble on the plate.

Scatter with sesame seeds and beer nuts and serve.

Pickled ginger would also be nice in this, or a touch of chilli sauce or chilli oil.

YOU FORGOT THE SAUCE?? WHAT DID I SAY?

Ginger and spring onion sauce: Grate a thumb of peeled ginger with a microplane, and mix with half a tsp of sea salt in a mini food processor ( or mortar). Finely chop 3 spring onions (whites and greens), and add to the mixture. Pound lightly to get them all mixed together. Heat 3 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil until it hits smoking point, and pour over the top, stirring until wilted (but only if your mortar can take the heat). Add 1 tsp sesame oil and whizz or toss well to combine. Add cold water by the spoonful until lightly runny. Scrape into a bowl and store until needed.

Or try a quick BBQ meats omelette, that sort of goes like this.

BBQ MEATS OMELETTE

Serves two to share, with maybe something else on the side.

Whisk 3 eggs with salt and pepper. Stir 1 tsp cornflour into 1 tbsp rice wine and whisk into eggs and set aside.

Make a sauce to serve at the end by whisking 2 tbsp oyster sauce with 1 tbsp soy sauce, dash of sesame oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, and whisk until smooth.

Now prep all your fillings/toppings. Roughly chop a good handful of finely sliced or diced roast pork or soy chicken (no bones) and a couple of spring onions, and throw in a few coriander leaves.

Heat a little peanut oil in a medium-sized pan and toss the BBQ meats, spring onions and coriander over high heat until they start to crisp. Tip out onto a warm plate, wipe out the pan, and add a little more peanut oil.

 Tip in the egg mixture, leave for 30 seconds, then draw back the edges, tipping the pan so that the uncooked egg runs onto the hot pan and cooks.

As soon as the top is almost set, slide out onto a warm plate, and tip the warm BBQ meats on top. Drop small plops of the sauce on top, strew with more coriander and serve hot.

HEADING TO HONG KONG? GO HERE.

Barbecued meats are an art form in HK, and big thanks to sommelier and all-round wine guru Ambrose Chiang for sharing one of the best local (very local) joints with us earlier this year – Dragon State Kitchen, on the border of Central and Sheung Wan, at 30 Bonham Strand.  I like it better than Yat Lok, even. Those to the left of the door are queuing for a table (spot Terry’s expressive hand entering frame extreme left) and those to the right are queuing for take-away. I was conflicted, wanting both.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for queuing for the BBQ meats at Wang Wang BBQ  in Eastwood and I am sorry you got stuck behind the guy who ordered 3 kilograms of roast duck and 2 kilograms of char siu and who wanted it all chopped and in multiple containers.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.