Pan Roasted Spicy Pork Chops

The Naga people in general love, as in absolutely love THE pork :). Each tribe has their own special way of making it and which ever way anyone makes it....it is always delicious. For me PORK is the most flavorsome protein.

Back in my college days, in Bangalore, there was only one restaurant in Brigade Road, that i know of, that served this really savory pork chops and pork chilli. We use to frequent it as often as our pocket-money would allow :)...i do hope the place is still up and running, it would be great to re-visit as a family.

Well I love making pork curry the traditional way with bamboo shoot, or with dried/fermented soy beans etc..but i prefer making Pork Chops with a lot of Chinese element in the marination.

I love the way the flavor of the meat is transformed with the use of Rice Wine in the marinate. Add to that Soy Sauce and Thai Fish Sauce or Nam Pla and you have one amazing dish. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
Pork Chops - 2 Kilos fat trimmed
Chinese Rice Wine - 2 Tbsp
Dark Soy Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Light Soy Sauce -  1 Tbsp
Thai Fish Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Red Chilli Sauce - 2 Tbsp
Green Chilli Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1 Tbsp
Garlic Salt - 1/2 Tsp
White Vinegar - 1 Tbsp
Cooking Oil, preferably Peanut Oil - 3 Tbsp
Water - 50-60 ml

Method:

1. Put everything except water and peanut oil in a bowl, mix well, dunk the chops in and marinate it overnight if possible or atleast 2-3 hours, tossing the marinate 2-3 times so the sauces is soaked into the meat properly
2. When ready to cook, divide the Chops into 3 batches, put a frying pan on the stove, heat it up till really hot and pour in 1Tbsp oil
3. When the oil starts to smoke a little, sear the first batch of Pork Chops. Repeat till all the chops are nicely browned and glossy and keep aside
4. If your frying pan is big enough to cook all the chops all at once, you just have to add the remaining marinate sauce on to the hot pan, add the water and put back the chops and let the water boil for about 2 minutes.
5. After 2 minutes, close the frying pan with a lid, turn down the flame to simmer and let the chops cook in the steam for a good one and a half hour to 2 hours.
6. During the steam cooking, you'll need to keep turning the chops so that it gets cooked evenly.
7. After the 2 hours of cooking your pork chops will be juicy and nicely coated with a thick, smokey sauce :)

With Fat

The other way way of doing it is to bake it, after the searing is done, in a preheated oven at 200 degrees centigrade and to bake it covered for an hour, turning the meat after half an hour, and then baking it uncovered for another half an hour. Once the baking is done, heat up the pan on which the chops were seared, pour the sauce that gets collected at the bottom of the baking dish on to the heated pan, dunk the chops one after the other on the smokey sauce just before serving. It takes extra effort, but whatever ways it is made...the taste is simply superb.

If making with fat, it will look like the picture above. The skin slightly crisp, fat and meat absolutely nice and juicy. You can snack on this by pairing it with a coleslaw or any garden fresh salad and you are one happy soul. It goes absolutely well with Rice and Dal as well.