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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Asian Inspired Pork Chops

You know, by now, that hoisin and sriracha and I are very good friends.  What you didn't know is that I'm also close friends with Sambal Oelek sauce.  It's a fresh ground chili paste and it's WONDERFUL!  I use to use it all the time and then hadn't been able to find it at my local grocery store, then it had been so long since I had cooked with it, that I kind of forgot about it.  Well, the other day I was walking in the Asian food isle of my store and lo and behold, there it was... calling to me.......
So, needless to say I bought some.  With it, I created this Asian inspired pork recipe.  It's simple and takes no time at all... that's the way I like my recipes most days!  If you didn't have Sambal or couldn't find it or didn't want to even try it, you can easily use Sriracha instead, though Sriracha is a bit hotter then Sambal, so add a little at time.  Beware, though, Sambal is spicy too, you might want to test it before you just go and add the full amount. 
 
Asian Inspired Pork Chops
Ingredients:
4 boneless center cut pork chops
2 Tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1 Tablespoon chili paste (Sambal Oelek Sauce) 
juice from 1/2 a lime
1 garlic clove, minced

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the Hoisin, chili paste, lime and garlic.  Place pork chops in a Ziploc bag and pour sauce over top.  Seal bag and massage sauce around the meat to coat.  Marinate in the fridge for 4 hours.

Place pork chops on a preheated grill and cook for 6-8 minutes per side (turning only once).  Or you can bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until the pork chops are cooked through.  Serve with rice or your favorite side.  (I served mine with garlic rice tossed with sauteed zucchini, it was perfect!!)  Enjoy!

2 comments:

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

I got pork chops on sale yesterday :) This will be in our future, for sure! I'll have to make the Sriracha version as that's all I have. good to know that Sambal is hot as hot as Sriracha :)

StephenC said...

I'm due for a trip to the Asian market. Used to have a sambal-like jar in the fridge but used it up long ago. Pretty pork chops!

An aside: in the Denver Post this morning was a recipe for pork chops which called for them to be cooked to only 130 degrees. It was called "medium." Baloney! That's simply rare!

Trichinosis is very rare these days but pork has to get to 138 degrees to kill it in the unlikely event it's there. Curious minds want to know!