This is a very classic Hong Kong dish – baked pork chop rice. The pork chops are coated with flour and seasoning first, then pan-fried till browned and slightly crispy. This is then baked with the rice, together with a tomato gravy and topped with cheese. Once out of the oven, it’s piping hot and cheesy and smells so nice you will want to immediately take a spoon to dig in to it. The rice comes out with a piece of chop and melted cheese – pop that in your mouth and viola! That’s the taste we are all looking for 😀
This dish is slightly more effortful to prepare compared to a simple dish of say baked pasta for example. The meat needs to be done right and nicely to give the dish its ideal crunch. That saying, the pork chop can be added to other types of baked pasta too, as long as a tomato base is used to prepare the sauce for the pasta. Or, you can serve out the pork chops separately from the pasta or rice if you would like to fully retain the crispiness in the chop.
There are so many different ways to make this dish, there’s simply no excuse not to do it!
Ingredients:
- Oil: 3 tbsp + 3 tbsp
- Garlic: 4 cloves, finely chopped
- Onion: 1, large, finely chopped
- Canned plum tomatoes: 600g, diced or whole
- Sugar: 1 tbsp
- Salt: to taste + 1/2 tsp
- Ground blackpepper: to taste + 1/2 tsp
- Plain flour: 1 cup
- 5-spice powder: 1/2 tsp
- Pork loin: 2 chops (500g)
- Unsalted butter: 1 tbsp
- Rice: cooked from 2 cups grains (about 1 big bowl)
- Fish sauce: 1 tbsp
- Red cheddar cheese: 200g, grated
- Mozarella cheese: 100g, grated
- Chive: 1 stalk, finely chopped
Method:
- Preheat oven at 190 degrees Celsius.
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in work. Saute garlic and onions till fragrant.
- Add tomatoes and sugar. Simmer 20min over medium heat till thickened.
- Season with salt and blackpepper. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Mix plain flour with a pinch of 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp blackpepper and 5-spice powder.
- Evenly coat pork loins with flour mixture.
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in pan. Fry pork chop for 6min till browned, turning once.
- Remove from heat. Slice pork chops into thin strips.
- Mix butter and fish sauce into hot (just cooked) rice. Scoop into baking dish.
- Top with pork slices, then spoon over tomato gravy to cover pork.
- Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of tomato, followed by mozzarella cheese.
- Bake 15min till browned.
- Sprinkle with chives to serve.
Serving:
2 persons
