Homestyle Pork Chop

This is my ultimate "mom's dish". It is easy to prepare, easy to cook and delicious. If you have been following my blog, you would notice that I am a big fan of dishes that require very few ingredients and very few steps. Except the occasional elaborate experimental dishes such as the Curry Puff or the Butterscotch Flan.

How easy is it to make this "mom's dish" pork chop? Follow along!

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 lb of lean pork shoulder/pork butt/肉眼 (if you shop at the chinese grocery store)
soy sauce
salt
pepper
Five Spice powder
corn starch
ginger (optional)

Instructions

1. Slice the pork into half an inch thick.
2. Use the back of the knife and pound the pork until it is flat.  (time to make some noises!!! A good way to release some stress and anger, make sure you follow precautionary steps)




                                               Pork chops after being pounded. Pardon my sloppy slicing



3. Transfer the pork into a container and marinate the pork with 3-4 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of five spice powder, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper.
4. Marinate this for 1 hour at room temperature, or in the refrigerator for >1 hour. You can marinate it overnight too.
5. Take the pork out from the container and rub some freshly grated ginger over it (mom actually does not do this).


 



6. Pat the meat with generous amount of cornstarch to create a thick layer of coat.


 



7. Heat about 2 tablespoon of oil in a non-stick pan and transfer the meat to the pan when the oil is hot.
8. "Fry" each side of the pork at medium heat for about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the amount of oil in the pan. Since cornstarch soaks up oil, it will be necessary to add a little more oil.
9. "Fry" the pork until the cornstarch turns golden brown and very slightly charred at some places.
10. It is time to serve.

                                        Battle of two pans! The non-stick pan is definitely the winner

                                        Not quite ready. Needs to be a little crispier than this

                      

                                                                    until it becomes likes this

Non stick pan might win the cooking battle but stainless steel pan created the most delicious thing on earth. Scraps!!


Everytime I think about mom's food, I think about this dish. The outer layer of the pork is crispy and the meat inside is still succulent. This dish does not use as much oil as the traditional fried pork chop. You can serve this with a plain bowl of rice like I did, or pasta or between two slices of bread, like a sandwich!

This pork chop definitely stores well in the refrigerator for a couple of days so you can make a few more pieces in advance.

What do you think of when you think about "mom's dish"?

Oh, one last thing. For extra crispiness, you can coat the pork with an EXTRA layer of panko bread crumbs!

Fragant Spicy Pork Belly

I learned this dish from  (http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com)

This recipe was designed for 4 servings, but I managed only 2 servings because I am trying to eat more. I would suggest that you adjust the portion accordingly

Main ingredient: 1.5lb pork belly

Aromatics

Thumb size ginger, peeled, sliced

2 shallots, peeled , roughly chopped

2 sprig green onion, white parts only (I am yet to understand why but this is what the recipe requested), chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 dried chillies, seeds removed, more if you like it extra spicy

1 star anise

small pinch of szechuan peppercorn

Seasoning

2 Tbsp Hot Bean Paste (豆瓣酱)

1 Tbsp cooking wine

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

Prepping

       1. I removed the skin from the pork belly. You can leave it on if you like it that way.
       2. Slice the pork belly into roughly the width of your thumb. 
       3. Chopped the aromatics - ginger, shallots, garlic, green onion, dried chilies. Set aside.

The aromatics

       3. Mix the seasoning (EXCEPT SUGAR) in a bowl and set aside.

Cooking

  

1.  Boil a pot of water and cook the pork belly until it turns white.

2.  Pour the water away and rinse the pork a few times. Make sure you drain it properly. Set aside.

3.   Heat some oil in a pan (or wok) and return the cooked pork into the hot oil (beware of splashing oil if your pork is still wet). Spread the pork into one layer. Leave it cooking like this for 1 minute. The purpose is to brown the pork.

4.  Start tossing/stirring the pork in the pan.

5.  Put all the aromatics in the pan. Keep tossing or stirring for one minute

6.  Put in all the seasoning (without the sugar). Keep tossing and stirring for another minute.

7.  Put in just enough water to cover the pork. Bring the water to boil, cover with lid and turn the heat to medium to simmer until meat is tender

Simmering the pork belly

8.   When meat is tender (about 20 minutes, or just try a piece of meat), put in the sugar. (TIP: I suggest that you put in small quantity at a time until the sweetness is slightly bellow your normal preferred sweetness. Reason is that you will continue to cook the sauce down and it will become sweeter when more water evaporates).

9.   Turn on high heat and reduce the sauce to preferred consistency. 

10. Serve.

Image from http://wendyinkk.blogspot.com

Taste Verdict:

I was fully surprised when I tasted this dish. The meat and the fatty layer were equally tender.

This dish tasted so good that I can't wait to try it again. The only small modification I would made 

is to add 1 more dried chilli pepper.