Baked Pork & Rice

OMGOMGOMG. You know the baked pork chop rice you can get at Hong Kong style cafes? I LOVE that dish! I've always gotten it whenever I go to these little cafes and I love it. Absolutely love it. It can be a little annoying because the pork chop is cut into strips so you still have to cut them smaller or use your teeth to tear them apart. Kinda neanderthal-ish. But I'm used to it so it doesn't really bother me that much. Just a little inconvenient but easily solved by slicing everything up on a side plate. :)

So my sis and I were talking about our love of HK style cafes and how our spouses don't care for them at all (the horror), and she suggested that I just try making this dish on my own. So I did.

I wouldn't call this a fail, since it's so yummy. But it's definitely not as sweet and tangy as the dish we'd get at the restaurants. This sauce is much more meaty. And I cut the pork chop up into bite sized pieces before baking. Then I don't need to do any extra cutting. Just shovel the food into my mouth. My favourite way to eat things. LOL.


Baked Pork & Rice
(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups day old cooked white rice
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 boneless thin pork cutlets
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 2/3 cup ketchup
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 Tbsps sugar, divided
• 2 Tbsps soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 4 Tbsps canola oil, divided
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a Ziploc bag or shallow dish, mix together 1 tablespoon of sugar, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Add in pork cutlets and marinade for 15-30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375F.
3. In a wok or frying pan, heat up 2 tablespoons of canola oil on medium high heat. Stir in eggs and mix around, breaking it up into small pieces of scrambled egg. When egg is half cooked, add rice and stir. Season with salt and pepper. Stir fried rice until rice is heated through and eggs are cooked. Transfer to a 1 1/2 quart oven safe dish. Set aside.
4. In a frying pan, heat up remaining canola oil on medium high heat. Place pork cutlets in hot pan, reserving marinade. Cook 2 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate.
5. Add onions and tomatoes to the pan and cook until tomatoes and onions have soften. Add in garlic, ketchup, water, remaining sugar and reserved marinade. Scrape up any brown bits on the bottom and lower heat to medium low. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes.
6. While sauce is simmering, cut up pork cutlets into bite sized pieces. Transfer the pork cutlet pieces, along with any juices that have leaked out onto the plate into the sauce mixture. Stir to combine. Season with salt, pepper and sugar (if too tangy) to taste.
7. Turn off heat and pour pork and sauce mixture over the fried rice. Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is nice and bubbly.
8. Serve with a side salad and/or soup.

Update: Corrected a typo. Sugar should've been divided otherwise it'll burn the wok or pan when cooking the pork chops. I made this again and just cubed the pork chop first to make it cook a little faster and have more seared surface area. Easier and just as yummy. :)