Vietnamese Pork Chops

My friend Jean and I go to an Asian market periodically to buy my Asian food supply.  We always eat lunch at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in that same shopping strip when we do. We are not familiar with Vietnamese food so everytime we ate there we always order Pho. Hers is always chicken Pho and mine is always beef Pho with tripe, cartilage or tendons. I was getting tired of the same Pho, so one day I got brave and ordered something else from the menu but Jean was afraid to deviate from her norm.  When our orders came to the table, mine looked so good and appetizing.  I insisted that she tries it and she liked it so we ended up sharing the dish.

I really liked the flavor because the taste is not very different from Filipino seasoned pork barbecue. I tried to make them at home one day and here is the result of my copycat recipe.  Try it! It is very tasty and easy.   

Marinade for 3 thin pork chops:

• 1 1/2 TBS sugar
• 1 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS fish sauce (patis)
• ¼ tsp MSG
• 2 TBS cooking oil
• 3 TBSP lemongrass, minced or 1 tbsp powder
• 2 to 3 large garlic cloves crushed and minced
• 1 small shallot, minced fine

Clean or rinse the pork chops and dry with paper towels.  Slice or cut an inch around the edges of the pork chops to prevent them from curling when you cook them.

Mix the marinade together and pour in a ziplock bag with the pork chops.  Close the bag and massage each pork chop with the marinade until all are uniformly wet with the mixture. Keep in the fridge to marinate for at least 3 hours. Flip over once in a while.

Remove from the liquid then grill or pan fry until well done. Serve with white rice, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sliced cucumbers and chopped green onions.  Dip in Vietnamese dipping fish sauce (bought in a bottle with other ingredients) if you like.  They are usually eaten over white rice. 

Double the marinade if using more pork chops.