Taiwanese Pork Chops-Pan Fried

 

My kids loved Taiwanese pork chops. We make Pork Katsu a lot at home. This recipe is a little easier in that you just dip the marinated pork chop in potato starch vs having to dip it in flour, milk, and then panko. However you do need to plan ahead and marinate the pork chops over night. I used 2.6 pounds of small thin-cut pork chops, doubled the marinade and left the pork chops in the marinade overnight, and used potato starch.

 

Here is what I did:

1)     Made the marinade, doubled

2)     Tenderized the meat

3)     Marinated the pork chops over night

4)     Before cooking, coated the pork chops in potato starch and let it sit for 10 min

5)     Pan fried the pork chops

 

Taiwanese Pork Chops Pan Fried (~from Cooking in Chinglish)

 

INGREDIENTS

4 piece ⅔ inch thick pork chop , both bone in or boneless will work (used 2 packages of Lidl thin-cut pork chops, weight was about ~ 2.6 pounds)

 

Marinate seasoning

4 tablespoon soy sauce

5 clove garlic, minced (did not have so used garlic powder)

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 tsp sugar

1 teaspoon white pepper powder

¼ teaspoon five spice or thirteen spice powder, optional

⅛ tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp rice cooking wine or Shaoxing wine , optional

½ tablespoon sesame oil , or other vegetable oil

1 egg , beaten (omitted)

 

Coating

¾ cup coarse tapioca /sweet potato starch (used potato starch)

 

Cooking

high smoke point vegetable oil

 

Topping (omitted the topping)

white pepper powder

salt

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

Tenderize meat

1)     Place a piece of pork chop in a Ziploc bag, pound both sides of the meat with a meat tenderizer from outside the bag until the pork chop becomes about double in size. If you don't have a meat tenderizer, use the back of a knife to "chop" all over the meat. Repeat the same for the rest of the pork chops.

2)     Use a pair of scissors to make 2~3 cuts on the thick outer membrane on the edge of the pork chops (see the picture in the post) to prevent the meat from shrinking after cooking. (did not do this step)

Marinate

3)     Place the pork chops in a container or gallon ziploc bag, add all the ingredients for the marinade and mix well. Make sure all sides of the pork chop are covered with the mixture.

4)     Cover and store it in the fridge for 6 hours to overnight.

5)     Coating

6)     Put the tapioca / sweet potato starch on a plate and coat each piece of pork chop with it.

7)     Press both sides of the pork chop into the starch to help them stick better. Set aside for about 10 minutes until the starch looks wet. (Refer to the picture in the post)

Cooking (see note)

8)     Fill a frying pan ½" (1 cm) deep with vegetable oil and turn the heat to medium. Drop a pinch of starch into the oil. When the starch is bubbling and floats to the surface, then the oil is hot enough for cooking the pork chop.

9)     Place one piece (or two if your pan can fit them) of pork chop in the pan carefully, cook until the bottom side is golden brown (about 3-5 minutes), and then flip to the other side and continue to cook until both sides became golden brown and become very crispy (around 2-3 minutes). Adjust the heat and add more oil if needed while you are cooking.

10)  Place the cooked pork chop on a cooling rack, pat it with paper towel to absorb the excess oil and continue to cook the rest of the pork chops.

11)  Sprinkle some white pepper powder and salt and serve right away. (did not do this step)

 

NOTES

·        The coarse starch makes the pork chop extra crunchy; however, you can replaced it with regular tapioca starch if the coarse kind is not available to you.  Corn starch (or other kinds of starch) is not recommended for this recipe.

·        The marinade is base on my taste, you can adjust it based on your preference.

·        For the best texture, cook just the amount you are eating each time.  You can also store the pork chop with the marinade in the freezer, separated with a piece of parchment paper, and just thaw the amount you want to cook each time. 

·        If you want to achieve an extra crispy texture, you can pan-fry the pork chop a second time for a few minutes after it's done frying the first time.  For the second round, simply pan-fry for around 30 seconds on each side.  I usually pan-fry all the pork chops first before starting to pan fry each piece again after the last piece finishes the first round of frying.

·        You can also deep fry the pork chop if you prefer.