Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Chop with rice 越式香茅豬扒飯 @ Cooky's Lab煮廚

Haven’t been posting for almost a week other than the one for the 1989 Tiananmen Square. I apologize to anyone that has been waiting. And here now we are for the food. This time, lemongrass pork chop.

This is a pretty easy dish, just have to get lemongrass. I’ve tried some jar ones soaked in liquid, but that doesn’t really taste much like the real one we used this time.

好耐無見, 除了上星期六四紀念日出了幅圖寫了幾隻字之外, 差不多有一星期無見. 不好意思要大家久等, 怪就怪那些坦克啦. 今集是香茅豬扒. 其實好容易整的, 醃肉, 然後拿去煮就係喇. 最重要是買到新鮮香茅. 試過一些樽裝的香茅, 香味跟新鮮的比差好遠.

Ingredients are simple too :
材料也是好簡單的 :

Lemongrass stick                     (one, finely chopped)
Pork chop/diced/strips             (we used 380g)
Garlic                                       (3 cloves or a lot more, finely chopped)
Salt                                          2tsp
Sugar                                       4tsp
White ground pepper              2tsp
fish sauce                                4tsp
Oil                                            2tsp

香茅                              一枝(切碎)
豬扒/粒/柳                      大概380g
蒜蓉                              大量(大概3瓣, 或更多, 好多)
鹽                                 2茶匙
糖                                 4茶匙
白胡椒粉                        2茶匙
魚露                              4茶匙
油                                 2茶匙

Optional Dip sauce (Vietnamese sweet and sour):

Thai “chicken sauce” or “sweet chilli sauce”    3tbsp
white vinegar                                                   1 tsp
Lime juice                                                         1 tsp
Fish sauce                                                        2 tsp
Minced garlic                                                    1tbsp
Minced lemongrass                                          1tbsp
Sugar                                                               2tbsp
Water                                                              3tbsp

沾汁(隨意, 可沾可唔沾, 唔喜歡可略)

泰式雞醬(或叫做甜辣醬)                3湯匙
白醋                                          1茶匙
青檸汁                                       1茶匙
魚露                                          2茶匙
蒜容                                          1湯匙
香茅                                          1湯匙
糖                                             2湯匙
水                                             3湯匙

Or you can mix it the way you like.

或隨意調節. 其實我煮的時候是邊調邊試味的, 所以沾醬份量可能未必準確, 大家都係自己試味啦.

Mince them.
切碎.

Don't use all of the minced garlic and lemongrass in the marinade. save some for the sprinkle on top(crisp it up first, not raw), and also save some for the dipping sauce.

不要用晒所有碎, 留起一些, 爆香灑在煮好的肉上面, 一些留起放沾汁裡面.

marinade the meat with sugar, salt, pepper and lemongrass

鹽糖胡椒粉之餘加入香茅碎醃肉

Method:

1. Marinate the meat for at least half an hour in some salt, sugar, white pepper, oil, minced garlic and minced lemongrass. Don’t use all of the lemongrass and garlic if you want some to be sprinkled on top.

2. Then just pan fry the meat until they go golden brown.

3. mixed the dip sauce or you can skip it. Here we used “lime squeeze” in a bottle instead of a fresh lime. (we actually have it though, just feeling lazy sometimes…)

Serve it with some rice or noodles or whatever you want. Sometimes Vietnamese have them with rice sticks, which is a type of noodles made from rice. They look white instead of yellow. You should be able to get them EASILY from some Asian grocery stores.

If you can’t, they aren’t really that Asian.

You can also have the rice sticks cooked and chilled too. Add cucumber and tomato to the rice sticks, the pork, and pour the dip sauce over, then it’s kind of a Vietnamese/Thai salad. It’s very desirable if you want something refreshing and filling in the hot summer .

Enjoy!

做法:

放入鹽, 糖, 白醋, 油, 蒜蓉, 香茅, 魚露. 不要用量全部香茅及蒜蓉. 留起一些, 爆香灑在煮好的肉上面, 一些留起放沾汁裡面.
放入鑊將肉煮到黃金色全熟.
調好沾汁. 如無鮮青檸可用樽裝代替品.

煮飯或米粉, 或者檬粉伴食. 如果你識睇呢段中文, 我應該唔駛教你係邊度買掛?

米粉或檬粉可以煮熟後雪凍, 加青瓜, 蕃茄, 放上煮好熱的豬扒, 再淋上沾汁, 就成了夏食的好朋友喇 ~

開飯喇~

Crisp the garlic and lemongrass up before you sprinkle them on top of the meat.

Tips: we got the pork from the supermarket that is already diced, which usually means they’re not the very good part of meat. If you do suspect the meat you got may be tough, put 0.5-1 teaspoon of baking soda (or baking powder) to tenderize the meat in the marinating stage.

Note that baking soda has a bitter taste so DON’T OVERDO IT. And it might affect the end result. Only do it when you think it’s necessary.

It may also affect some other dishes if it is a mild flavored one. But this one is supposed to be a fairly strong flavored pork dish so it matters less.

好溫馨的提示: 這裡用的是澳洲超市買的己切粒的豬肉, 通常已切粒或免治即是不是最靚的肉, 會鞋的. 如果你懷疑你買左的豬肉會鞋, 可以在醃肉階段加梳打粉以助鬆肉, 梳打粉或泡打粉也可, 大約半至一茶匙.