Pork Chops with Sticky Rice and Thai Green-Chile Sauce

• Recipe by Pino Maffeo

Pino Maffeo is always inventing new variations on classic Asian dishes. Here, in a play on Vietnamese pork chops, he marinates the meat in a Chinese-style mix of hoisin, orange juice and chiles, then serves the juicy chops with sticky rice and a side of sweet, crunchy watermelon.

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
2. 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3. 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
4. 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh ginger
5. 2 tablespoons honey
6. 1 tablespoon Chinese black bean sauce
7. 1/2 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
8. Eight 1/2-inch-thick, bone-in pork loin chops (about 5 ounces each)
9. 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
10. 10 Thai bird chiles or 2 serrano chiles, stemmed and thinly sliced
11. 3 tablespoons sugar
12. 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
13. 2 tablespoons water
14. 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro, plus leaves for garnish
15. 2 cups white sticky rice, soaked overnight (see Note)
16. Chilled watermelon slices, for serving

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk 1/4 cup of the fish sauce with the hoisin, orange juice, ginger, honey, black bean sauce and sesame oil; transfer to a shallow baking dish. Add the chops and turn to coat, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
2. Meanwhile, in a mortar, pound the garlic, chiles and 1 tablespoon of the sugar to a coarse paste; gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar until pasty. Add the lime juice, the remaining 3 tablespoons of fish sauce and the water. Stir in the chopped cilantro.
3. Line a bamboo steamer basket with moistened cheesecloth. Drain the soaked rice and spread it in the steamer in an even layer. Set the basket over a pot of boiling water, cover and steam the rice until tender but chewy, about 30 minutes. Cover, remove from the heat and keep warm.
4. Light a grill. Remove the pork from the marinade and grill over high heat, turning once, until lightly charred, about 6 minutes. Serve the pork with the sticky rice, green-chile sauce, watermelon slices and cilantro leaves.

Make Ahead

The marinating pork chops and Thai green-chile sauce can be refrigerated overnight.

Notes

Sticky rice is often sold as sweet rice or Thai sticky rice.