Char Siu Pork Chops with Black Bean Sauce and Stir-Fried Vegetables

Cookbook

Char Siu Pork Chops
with Black Bean Sauce and Stir-Fried Vegetables

Serves 4

Pork
This contemporory preparation combines classic Chinese flavors with the rich traditions of French cuisine. The sharpness of fermented black beans in the sauce mellows with the addition of veal stock and butter. I call this a good fortune pork chop because char siu sauce adds the color red, a symbol of good luck for the lunar New Year.

Sauce
2 tablespoons fermented black beans
(see page 13 of the book)
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced green onion
1/3 cup red wine
1/2 cup bottled clam juice
1/2 cup veal demi-glace (page 156 of book)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Pork Chops
1/2 cup bottled char siu sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
4 (1-1/2-inch-thick) pork chops, trimmed of fat
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Stir-Fried Vegetables
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup julienned red bell pepper
1/2 cup jutienned yellow bell pepper
1 cup (1-inch) pieces yard-long beans or green beans

julienned green onion, for garnish

To prepare the sauce, in a small bowl, soak the fermented black beans in water for 5 minutes. Drain and mince.

Place a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil with the garlic, ginger, and green onion and sauté for 20 to 30 seconds, until barely light golden brown. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, then add the black beans and cook for 2 minutes, or until the seasonings are aromatic. Add the wine and bring to a boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the clam juice and bring to a boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the demi-glace and bring to a boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the sugar and oyster sauce and blend well. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sugar if necessary. Add the butter and mix well. Decrease the heat to achieve a bare simmer and keep the sauce warm.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Combine the char siu sauce and hoisin sauce in a bowl and mix well. Coat the pork chops with the marinade.

Heat a large ovenproof sauté pan over high heat. Add the oil and when the oil is hot, add the chops and sear for 3 to 4 minutes, until caramelized and brown. Turn and sear the other side for 3 to 4 minutes, until caramelized and brown (do not allow to blacken). Remove the pan from the heat and place in the oven to finish cooking the chops, about 10 minutes, or until an instantread thermometer registers 140 degrees F.

To prepare the vegetables, place a wok over high heat. Add the oil, garlic, and ginger and stir-fry for 20 to 30 seconds, until barely light golden brown. Add the red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and beans and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until cooked but still crunchy.

To serve, spoon a pool of sauce onto each of 4 plates. Divide the vegetables among the plates and place a pork chop on top of each pile of vegetables. Garnish with the green onion and serve immediately.

Buy the Book!

from:
Hawaii Cooks
Flavors from Roy's Pacific Rim Kitchen
by Roy Yamaguchi
with food writer Joan Namkoonk
Ten Speed Press
Hardcover, 176 pages
Price: $32.50 (CAN $50.00)
ISBN: 1-58008-454-0
Recipe reprinted by permission.