Beef Bak Kwa

A tasty and spicy delicacy which is usually served during Chinese New Year.  Bak Kwa can be bought in any Chinatown all year round and is slightly similar to beef jerky.  Normally, these are made of minced pork and grilled.  But, I used minced beef and baked them in the oven.  The taste and texture are up to my hubby's satisfaction (mine too) as I can see the quantity diminishing by the minute.  Next time, I will add more chilli powder to make it more spicy.

Ingredients:
1 kg minced beef
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp chilli or paprika powder (add 2 tbsp if you want it spicy)
1/2 tsp five-spice powder
1 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
a small pinch food colouring powder (red)
240 g fine sugar (I added slightly less), you may use maple syrup if you prefer
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine or non-alcoholic white wine
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

Method:
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together.  Leave in fridge overnight.

Line baking tray with baking paper.  You will need 5 pieces of baking paper if using a normal baking tray.  Note that I am using a larger baking tray with a measurement of 40 cm x 34 cm.  Normally, I will get about 1300 g of meat mixture and divide it into 4 portions i.e. 4 baking trays.

Place a portion of meat mixture onto a piece of baking paper and cover with cling wrap.  Ensure that the cling wrap covers the whole of baking paper.  I used two cling wraps slightly on top of each other due to the size of my baking tray.

By using a rolling pin, thinly roll meat mixture to the size of the baking paper as shown.  I suggest that you prepare the other minced meat portions as well and set them aside.

Transfer baking paper to baking tray and remove cling wrap as shown below.

Bake in a preheated fan oven at a temperature of 130° C on the middle rack for 15 minutes.  Do note that the size will shrink!  Once done, remove from oven and cut into your preferred bite sizes. Transfer to another baking tray which is lined with baking paper.  Repeat procedure with the other portions.

Increase the temperature of the fan oven to 180° C.  Once the required temperature is reached, bake the cut-up bak kwa pieces for about 10 minutes.  Then, remove baking tray from oven and turn over each bak kwa piece.  Return to oven and bake for another 2 minutes.  It is very important that you do not over-bake them or else, the bak kwas will become very hard and crispy. You need to watch the baking process carefully as the temperature of your oven might be different from mine. Please adjust the oven temperature accordingly.

My hubby likes them crispy!  What I did was to turn over the bak kwas again and bake for another 2 minutes.  So, I had two portions crispy and 2 portions normal!

If you prefer to grill them, skip this step and grill until done!

Once done, remove to a rack and leave to cool down completely before storing in an airtight container.

Bon Appetit!