Main Course

Pork Loin Chops in Fish Sauce served with Kai Lan

Ingredients:

-        8 thinly cut pork loin chops bones on (about 1 kilogramme)

-        400 grammes Kai Lan

-        ½ cup fish sauce

-        2 cloves garlic

-        1 teaspoon light soy sauce
-    1 teaspoon sesame oil

-        ¼ cup water

-    3 tablespoon cooking oil for pan fry

-    1 tablespoon cooking oil for stir fry

Method:

1.      Rinse the pork chops and pat dry with paper towel. Tenderise the chops with a tenderiser or use the blunt side of your knife to gently chop each one on both sides.

2.      Finely chop the garlic and mix them well with the fish sauce, caster sugar, light soy sauce, sesame oil and water in a mixing bowl.

3.      Put the tenderised chops into the mixing bowl, make sure the marinade spread evenly onto each chop. Marinade the chops for a least half an hour in the fridge.

4.      Clean the Kai Lan and discard the big leaves, use only the stems and the young leaves attached to the tips. Cut the stem diagonally into 5 cm strips as photo. If big Kai Lan are used, make sure they are cut in thin slices diagonally, about ¼ - ½ cm thick and 5 cm long. Drain well and set aside.

5.      Take the chops out from the fridge and let them cool down to room temperature. Either fry them in 2 batches with 3 tablespoon cooking oil in a pan, or put them in a bbq or grill them in the oven till they are thoroughly cooked. If oven is used, depends on the thickness of your chops, use grill with 220C/425F for traditional oven or 210C/410F for convection oven for 10 to 15 mins, turn the chops half way.  

6.      While you are resting the chops after they are done, heat up a frying pan or wok with medium high heat, put in 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, when the oil starting to get hot, add in the Kai Lan and stir fry it for 20 seconds or they started to change to deep green colour, turn the heat down to medium. Add 2 tablespoon of the marinade into the Kai Lan and sautéed them till the centre of the Kai Lan turn translucent.

7.      Serve the pork chop on top of the Kai Lan. You may want to cut the pork chop to bite size before serving.

Hints:

-        Pork loin chops with bone on and some fat on are more taste and tender especially near the bone.

-        The chops sold in supermarkets is usually quick thick, the ones in Chinese shops are usually thinner (about 1 – 1-1/2cm thick)  which is more suitable especially for pan fry.

-        Advised not to use the leaves of the Kai Lan because they could taste quite bitter.

-        Do not use very high heat to fry the chops or the Kai Lan, they take some time to cook and therefore, high heat will burn them before they are cooked.

-        If Kai Lan is not available, replace it with asparagus and cut them diagonally into 5cm strips.
-    The photo above is just half of the serving.