Thai Style Honey-Glazed Pork Chop

“Its sweetness and ‘lemon grassy’ flavour are just soooo yummy”

I tried this new creation for dinner last evening. Using of the tenderloin part, and I sliced the pork into very thin and small (about 1 cm thick, half the palm-size) pieces as my first trial, to allow quicker cooking. It really was, and so, with just about 25min of baking time, your dish would be up to serve.

However, I reckoned thicker slices for baking or grilling method, if possible. Instead of 1cm thickness, make it 2cm. Reason being, thicker slice tastes more “meaty” and juicier. Yes, my first trial told me. :)

My first cooking of this new dish wasn’t as smooth as I wanted it to be. I over-estimated its baking time to 35-40 minutes. As suspected, the sauce dried up quicker than it supposed, leaving traces of blackened sauce on the foiled tray (I should have started off with 25 minutes instead, for thin slices). Lucky enough, the chops weren’t charred too much. They were removed easily from the foil. The appearance of the pork chops were looking great and greasing browned!

How did the pork chop taste? First bite of the meat, its gingery flavor reminded me of Thai food, and somehow tasted like lemon grass. The crystallized ginger bits also yielded a hint of sweet after-taste. Nice bites! This favorable ‘lemon grass’ flavor was subtle and pleasant in the palate. Texture of the meat? Just right, too. It was tender enough to chew.

It was easy to learn and cook. See my recipe below:

Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
6 slides of pork chop (shoulder butt part for more tenderness), about 1-2cm thick (Use boneless chop if eating with rice)
4 table spoon of light soy sauce (2 spoons for marinating use)
2 – 4 tablespoon of honey (adjustable depends on your liking of sweetness)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 slide of ginger, chopped
1 small onion, chopped (use half if it’s big)
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1/2 small cup of water (50ml)
1 cup of oil

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 200°C for 10 min. Pound both sides of each pork chop with a meat pounder or simple use the back of the knife to tenderize the meat.

2) Marinate pork chops with 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce for 15 – 20 minutes. Sprinkle some grounded pepper, as desired.

3) Turn on stove, heat oil in a skillet over medium fire, sauté both sides of the pork chop until well-browned. About 3 min each side.

4) Transfer the chops to baking dish (line baking dish with a sheet of aluminum foil, with ends of foil extending slightly over sides) before placing the chops, if needed).

5) In a bowl, mix honey, water, soy sauce, onion, ginger, garlic, and pepper. Pour over pork chops in baking dish.

6) Bake pork chops 25 – 30 min in preheated oven evenly. Serve with mashed potato and salad or rice.

Other than steamed rice, I found mashed potato and salad go well with this pork chop, too. This recipe is also great for BBQ events.

This dish requires about 50 min (plus marinating time). However, multi tasking is allowed along the process. :)

Calories-count: 3 thin pieces (1cm thickness of tenderloin part) at about 220 kcal. If 1 thicker chop (about 2cm) should be at about 150 kcal.

What if you do not have an oven at home, or not keen to use oven? Pan fried is another good way. My panfried pork chop might be a good alternative for you.

Tips: Honey is easily burnt ingredient. You may want to turn your pork chops over after 15 min of baking time. Ignore the blacken honey juice around the chops as it will not affect the taste.
* Alternative way, drizzle honey only at the very last minute when chops are cooked and heat off. Simply add honey and place in the off-switching oven for a minute long, before removing it from oven. It may help to avoid honey turning a tint of sourish, if you are sensitive to even taste with insignificant difference.
* Use spare rib or loin part is good enough to reduce calories intake. Well, you may skip the sauté part (Step 3) to reduce loading of fat into your body. Expect less fragrant bite in your palate, though.