Thai Marinated Pork Chops

What to eat...what to eat...This was what I was thinking about. But for dinner actually. Yes, in Singapore we are known to be eating 24 hours or rather, there seems to be food everywhere but yet, I often ask myself, what to eat? Do you ever wonder that very often too?

These days, Mr G has been having a no-carbohydrate but yet a diet filled with protein and loads of vegetables. It's really hard to find food without any carbohydrates like rice or noodles. So instead of eating his usual steamed chicken with vegetables, I decided to give him a nice treat tonight and cook something different to change his palate a little.

The big plus would definitely be something easy and not too fussed for a weekday night. So I thought of Bill Granger. Sometime last year, many of us cooked with Bill Granger in Cook like a Star. It was pretty fun and I quite enjoyed most of his recipes since they were easy but yet yummy.

This time, I found this easy recipe of his from his cookbook, Easy. The title of the book already says it all didn't it? :) So let's get started. See my modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

4 shallots, sliced 
1 tbsp grated ginger (I used 2 inch ginger)
2 garlic cloves, crushed 
Handful coriander, including stems, coarsely chopped 
2 tsp soy sauce 
1 tbsp fish sauce 
1 tbsp caster sugar 
4 (about 200g each) pork cutlets 
Olive oil, to brush 
1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into chunks 
Chilli dressing (recipe below) and mint leaves, to serve

Method:

1. Place shallots, ginger, garlic, coriander, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, sea salt and pepper in a food processor and whiz to a paste. Transfer to a shallow, non-metallic dish and add the cutlets. Mix well, then cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. 
2. Preheat a barbecue or chargrill pan to medium-high heat and brush lightly with oil. 
3. Grill cutlets for 3-4 minutes each side or until cooked to your liking. 
4. Serve with cucumber, chilli dressing and mint leaves.

Chilli dressing

Ingredients:

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 long red chilli, finely chopped

1 tbsp thinly sliced spring onion

1/2 lebanese cucumber, seeds removed, finely chopped

Method:

1. Place vinegar, sugar and fish sauce in a bowl and stir until sugar has dissolved.
2. Stir in chilli, spring onion and cucumber and serve.

To add more flavour to my dish, I stir fried wild mushrooms in the oil and fats from the pork chop together with about 1 tbsp dried rosemary to make the mushrooms more fragrant. Once the mushrooms are browned, you may scoop them up.

Further, I also added coleslaw as part of the balanced meal. To make the coleslaw, I used 1 small cabbage shredded using the shredder. I used huge dollops of mayonnaise to mix it all up. You can have your own version by adding finely sliced shallots, dashes of pepper or even finely shredded carrots. Mr G likes his plain with just cabbage and mayonnaise so that is just what I did.

Despite the fact that I only quickly marinated the pork chops for about 15 minutes or so, I think the pork chops are very flavourful. Literally all was gone on Mr G's plate in no time. Yes, not even the mushrooms or coleslaw. This is a hit! And it is so so easy. Try it if you have no time but want to eat something yummy. Next time when I make this, I will marinate the pork chops for a few hours.

I'm submitting this to Cook like a Star ALL Stars Anniversary organized by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of bakingflavours and Mich of Piece of Cake.

I'm also submitting this to Cook-Your-Books#10 organized by Joyce of bakingflavours.

I'm also submitting this to Cooking with Herbs organized by Karen of Lavender and Lovage.