Hong Kong Style Baked Pork Chops with Rice (港式焗豬扒飯)

This is my take on this Hong Kong diner-style recipe, and it went down quite well tonight. The children usually have minced or finely sliced, stir-fried meat, and are not used to eating chops/steaks, so they took a bit of persuading. I used two large pork chops, which was enough to feed two adults and 3 small children. I also used fresh tomatoes in the recipe, but a tin of chopped tomatoes would be just fine as a subsitute.

 

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 3 good shakes of light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp sunflower oil

Tomato Sauce

• 4-5 large, ripe tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp worcester sauce
• (Optional) 1 tsp Knorr chicken powder
• Approx. 100ml tomato ketchup

Other ingredients

• 1/2 a romano pepper, or a standard red pepper, finely diced
• 1-2 handfuls of frozen petits pois
• 1/2 a large carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 2cm cube of ginger, peeled and finely grated
• Approx. 3 bowls of cooked rice, which has been refrigerated overnight or for half a day
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 large, thick pork chops
• 150ml chicken stock
• Ground white pepper
• A couple of handfuls of cheddar or mozarella cheese
• Sunflower oil for frying

Serves 2-3

 

Instructions

• Combine the marinade ingredients and pour over the pork chops into a shallow dish. Cover and marinade the pork chops for at least 30 minutes
• Make the tomato sauce. Skin the tomatoes by scoring a cross in the bottom of each tomato, then pouring boiling water over until fully submerged. Leave for 10-15 minutes, then pour away the water. Peel the skins off the tomatoes, then chop roughly and put aside
• Heat 1 tbsp sunflower oil in a heavy based saucepan to moderate heat, then add the crushed garlic and let bubble gently for a minute or so, to flavour the oil. Do not let the garlic catch and burn
• Add the tomatoes, the chicken powder, worcester sauce and tomato ketchup, and stir well to combine. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Break up the sauce with a fork or potato masher

• Pre-heat the oven to 185 degrees fan
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or large frying pan to high, then add the diced carrots. Stir-fry quickly for 30 seconds, then add the romano pepper and the grated ginger, and stir-fry quickly for another 30 seconds.
• Add the rice and stir-fry quickly for 2-3 minutes, until the rice is completely coated in the oil and the ingredients are well combined
• Add a handful or two of frozen petits pois, and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes. Add a dash of light soy sauce and mix well
• Push all of the rice to one side of the wok, then tip the wok so that there is an empty space at the bottom. Add the beaten egg and chop and scramble it quickly with a spatula, until it is cooked. Combine the egg and fried rice
• Pour the rice mixture into a baking dish, and pour over 150ml of hot chicken stock

Fried Rice

• Heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil in a large frying pan until it is very hot. Shake any excess marinade from the pork chops, and place in the frying pan. Brown on 1 side of a minute or so, then flip over and brown on the other side
• Place the pork chops onto the rice

• Pour the tomato sauce over the pork and rice, and sprinkle the grated cheese on top
• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and browned, and the tomato sauce is bubbling
• Remove from the oven. Place the pork chops onto a chopping board, and cut into pieces, if serving more than 2 people. Stir the rice, and serve with the pork in warmed dishes

I might use more cheese next time...

 

 

Hong Kong Style Baked Pork Chops with Rice (港式焗豬扒飯)

Basic Congee Recipe (粥)

I am on my own with three children this weekend, and the toddler is in full-on toddler mode. When I was away a couple of weekends ago, my husband solved mealtimes by taking them out to eat for every meal that wasn't breakfast (and they loved it). Last night I started my easy planning by making a batch of congee for lunch, using the slow cooker.

Congee is a mainstay of the Chinese diet, for those regions which are rice-based. It is typically eaten at breakfast, although it can also be found on dim sum menus as a dish for lunch. In poorer communities, congee would be eaten as an alternative to a bowl of rice, as a smaller amount goes further. It's also the food that our mothers would cook us if we were unwell. It would start off plain, then you might get a bit of white fish and you knew you were on the mend when the fried cubes of luncheon pork appeared.

In its simplest form it is a rice/water "porridge". It can be flavoured with all sorts of things, and I find it a useful way of getting rid of leftovers. Typical additions might include:

Meat and fish: Bacon ribs, the leftovers of a ham shank, cooked chicken, fish (although only added at the end), beef slices, scallops (also conpoy (幹瑤柱) - a dried scallop to be used in small doses), pork slices.... anything really. Just beware of anything with small bones, as everything will fall apart during the cooking process

Vegetables: Sweetcorn, chopped carrots, peas, green veg, pickled vegetables

Other: Century egg (皮蛋), that green and black egg which is definitely an acquired taste, but makes one of my favourite congee dishes of all, 皮蛋瘦肉粥 - congee with lean pork and century egg, salty duck eggs, fried peanuts

For ultimate ease, you can put all the congee ingredients into a slow cooker at night and it will be ready by morning. If you don't have a slow cooker, you can make it in about 90 minutes in a pan on the hob.

The rice:water ratio is around 1:10. For 2 medium bowls of congee, I would use one handful of rice and 4 rice-bowls of water.

Ingredients

• 2 handfuls of rice
• 8 rice-bowls of water
• 1 large slice of peeled raw ginger, about 2mm thick
• 1 dried conpoy, soaked in hot water and broken apart
• 1-2 bacon ribs (I had some salted cooked chicken in the freezer, but I'd normally use bacon ribs)
• 1 corn on the cob
• Salt or chicken powder to season

Serves 2-3

Instructions (Slow Cooker)

• Put everything in the slow cooker and place on low for 8-10 hours
• Separate the corn from the cob by running a knife down the sides, and put the corn to the congee
• Remove the bones from the bacon ribs, shred the meat and return to the congee
• Season with salt (or chicken powder) to taste
• Garnish with spring onion, roasted peanuts and white pepper and serve with fried youtiao (油條) dough sticks 

Instuctions (Hob)

• Put everything into a large pan (the water should come to no more than halfway up the pan), and bring to a rolling boil
• Boil for 5 minutes, then turn the heat to its lowest setting. cover and simmer for 90 minutes - stir occasionally to prevent the congee sticking to the bottom
• Separate the corn from the cob by running a knife down the sides, and return the corn to the congee
• Remove the bones from the bacon ribs, shred the meat and return to the congee
• Season with salt (or chicken powder) to taste
• Garnish with spring onion, roasted peanuts and white pepper and serve with fried youtiao (油條) dough sticks

Congee with Leftover Chicken and Sweetcorn

Prawn Fried Rice (蝦炒飯)

Once you know the basics, fried rice is easy peasy. The most important thing is that the rice needs to be cooked and left to cool - so cooked one evening and refrigerated until the next day, or cooked in the morning for use in the evening. Try and get as much moisture out of the rice as possible, so don't cover it whilst it's cooling, and stick it by a window if you can. Also - break it up before you add it to the wok, so that it stir-fries more easily.

My Mum and Dad bought me a stone pan, which needs very little oil and is non-stick too. I've taken to using it as a replacement for my wok, but this recipe is originally intended for wok cooking. I have trouble with the rice sticking in the bottom of my wok - you need to make sure the oil is really hot before you add it.

The essential ingredients, apart from the rice, are spring onions, peas (petits pois are nicer) and egg. Anything else is optional really. Cooked chicken, ham, bacon, prawns or 叉燒 (char siu) pork are tasty additions, as well as cooked salmon. I used some fine beans in this recipe, which went down like a lead balloon with the older two. Fortunately the toddler was hungry, so leaned across the table at dinner time to grab his siblings' leftovers.

Ingredients

• 4 bowls of cooked rice, cooled and refrigerated for at least 1/2 a day
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 150g prawns, peeled and deveined
• A handful of fine beans, topped, tailed and chopped into 1cm lengths
• 1 handful of frozen petits pois
• 3 spring onions, chopped finely
• Seasoned soy sauce for seafood (or light soy)
• Ground white pepper
• Sunflower oil for frying
• Few drops of sesame oil
• (Optional) 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
• (Optional) 1/2 teaspoon of Knorr chicken powder or salt to taste

Serves 4

Instructions

• Heat some sunflower oil in a wok and add the beaten egg. Swirl around the wok and scramble into small pieces. Put to one side and wipe the wok clean
• Put a small amount of sunflower oil into the wok and add the prawns. Stir-fry quickly until sealed, but don't cook through. Put to one side and wipe the wok clean
• Boil some water in a pan and put the fine beans in. Boil for about 30 seconds, drain and cool under the tap. Shake off as much water as you can and put to one side
• Heat a few tablespoons of sunflower oil in the wok until very hot. Add the rice and let it sit in the wok for a few moments, before beginning to stir fry
• When the rice is nice and hot, add the prawns, fine beans, petits pois and spring onion (and optional sesame seeds) and continue to stir-fry for 2-3 minutes
• Add 2-3 splashes of soy sauce, a shake of ground white pepper (and optional chicken powder) to the pan and stir-fry until well mixed
• Add the egg and heat through. Add a few drops of sesame oil, remove from the heat, stir and serve in warmed bowls

Prawn Fried Rice