RECIPE

Pork Chops with Sticky Rice and Thai Green-Chile Sauce

  • ACTIVE: 40 MIN
  • TOTAL TIME: 3 HRS 15 MIN Plus Overnight marinating
  • SERVINGS: 4

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.

  • ACTIVE: 40 MIN
  • TOTAL TIME: 3 HRS 15 MIN
  • OTHER TIME:
  • SERVINGS: 4
  • MAKE-AHEAD
  • STAFF-FAVORITE

Ingredients

  • 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.