Baked Tomato Pork Chop Rice

This first time I tried this was at a "Cha Chaan Teng", which in english can roughly translate to "Hong Kong Cafe" or "Chinese Tea Restaurant". Its basically a small cafe \ restaurant which serves westernised-chinese crossed with street-hawker type cuisine. Therefore, in one of these places, you will be able to order claypot chicken rice \ congee \ instant noodles \ french toast all washed down with a cup of iced Yin-Yong - A combination of Coffee and Milk Tea.

Yin Yong...And don't mock it till you try it. Its addictive stuff I tell you. Its also in one of these cafe restaurants that you can also find the Baked Tomato Pork Chop Rice.

The baked tomato pork chop rice is basically a layer of egg fried rice, topped with some deep fried crumbed pieces of marinated pork chop, then smothered with tomato based sauce, topped with some cheese and then baked in the oven.

Baked Tomato Pork Chop Rice
Based on recipe at galaxylink - Serves 4

For the Fried Rice

• 4 bowls of rice
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oil

For the Pork Chop

• 8 slices of pork chop
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon chinese 5 spice mixture
• 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoon chinese wine
• 1 garlic (mashed)
• 1/2 teaspoon cornflour

Crumbling the Pork Chops

• 1/2 cup flour (seasoned with some salt & pepper)
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• oil for deep frying

For the Tomato Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 clove garlic (chopped finely)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 onion (finely diced)
• 1 cup of clear chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch (made into a paste with some water)

For the Topping:

• Shredded Chedder cheese

Method:

1. Beat the pork chop the back of a chopper to loosen up the meat.
2. Marinade the pork chops in with oil, salt, sugar, pepper, 5 spice, wine and garlic for half an hour.
3. Dredge the pork chops a piece at a time, first in flour, then in the beaten egg and finally in the bread crumbs. Set aside in the fridge until ready for deep frying.
4. Preheat oven to 200C.
5. Heat oil in wok till hot. Add the eggs and scramble the eggs until its just cooked, remove and set aside. Add cooked rice and stir fry over high heat. Add salt and soy sauce, then add the scrambled eggs back in and mix in with the rice. Put the fried rice on a large oven proof dish and set aside.
6. In a saucepan saute the garlic and the onions in oil until it turns transparent.
7. Add in the chicken broth, then the canned tomatoes. Bring the sauce to a boil
8. Add tomato ketchup, salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce.
9. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. While the sauce is reducing, heat the oil for deep frying.
10. Deep fry the pork chops in medium high heat till slightly golden brown and set aside on some paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
11. Place the fried pork chop on top of the rice in a single layer. Thicken the tomato sauce with the cornstarch mixture. Pour the sauce evenly over the pork chop and sprinkle a handful of cheese over the top.
12. Bake in the over for 5 minutes or till the sauce is slightly brown on top.
13. Serve immedately - preferably with a cup of iced Yin Yong :)
    

Tips on Crumbing:

• Before you start crumbing, arrange the ingredients in a production line, in the order you'll be using them. ie. A large plate of flour seasoned with salt and pepper -> lightly beaten eggs into a bowl -> breadcrumbs on a separate large plate.
• Try to keep one hand as the 'dry hand' handling the flour and breadcrumb plates and the other 'wet hand' for handling the marinated pork chops and the egg dredging part. This avoids your fingers to be crumbed as well :)
• Once the pork chop pieces have been crumbed, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to rest before frying. This will help the crumb coating stick to the meat during cooking.