Recipe: Sweet and Tangy Glazed Pork Chops

Sweet and Tangy Glazed Pork Chops

Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal

Because of the influx of Cantonese immigrants to nearby Japan, you'll find this traditional Cantonese dish. If you can't find the moke stick, substitute a 0.44-ounce package of haw flakes. What is haw? It is kind of a cross between a cherry and a cranberry. The haw is dried, ground, and mixed with sugar.

Ingredients

FOR THE MARINADE
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon soy sauce or light soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

4 pork loin or shoulder chops, each about 1/2 inch thick, cut in half

FOR THE SAUCE
1/4 cup warm water
2 pieces moke stick
2 tablespoons plum sauce
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons soy sauce or light soy sauce
3 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 medium piece rock sugar, about 1/2 ounce, or 1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 green onions, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths

Instructions

1. Marinate the pork: Stir the egg, soy sauce, cornstarch, and rice wine in a bowl until blended. Pour into a plastic bag. Add the pork chops and turn to coat. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Prepare the sauce: Combine the water, moke stick, plum sauce, brown sugar, and soy sauce in a medium bowl and mash to a thick paste. Add the black vinegar, rice wine, and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

3. Pour the oil into a nonreactive skillet large enough to hold the pork in a single layer, and heat over medium heat until hot. Lift the chops from the marinade, shake off the excess liquid, and lay them in the oil. Pan-fry, turning once, until cooked through, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove the pan from the heat and drain the chops on paper towels.

4. Spoon off all but 1 tablespoon of the oil from the pan. Return the pan to high heat. When the oil is hot, add both onions and stir-fry until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the liquid is reduced by one-third. Slip the chops into the sauce and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Serve immediately, spooning some of the sauce over each chop.

Buy the Book!

from:
Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking
200 Traditional Recipes from 11 Chinatowns Around the World
by Martin Yan
William Morrow / an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
$34.95 / hardcover
Illustrated with 200 color photos
ISBN: 0060084758
Recipe reprinted by permission.