Taiwanese Crispy Pork Chop

Serves: 4

By Tiffany Chang

@tiffcooksalot

Marinade

Ingredients

  • 950 g bone‐in pork chop (about 4 pieces)
  • 3 spring onion, roughly cut in half and crushed
  • 3 garlic clove, crushed
  • 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons rice wine or cooking sake
  • 2 tablespoons Taiwanese black vinegar (can use Worcestershire as sub)
  • 1 tablespoon Taiwanese soy paste (can use oyster sauce as sub)
  • 3 teaspoons caster sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ajinomoto MSG
  • 2 litre vegetable oil

Coating

Ingredients

  • 200 g sweet potato starch, coarse

Instructions

  1. Make a few incisions on the fatty bits and the body of each piece. Then use a meat mallet (or a rolling pin or the back of a heavy cleaver) to flatten each pork chop until thin, on both sides, about 1-1.5 cm in thickness.
  2. In a mixing bowl, add the crushed garlic, spring onion and all the seasoning. Gently mix with your hands and squeeze the garlic and spring onion in your hands. Then add the pork chop and gently massage and coat each piece thoroughly. Cover with cling film then set in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour, maximum 4 hours.
  3. 30 minutes before frying, take out the marinated meat and let it rest at room temperature. It is best to fry food when the meat is not fresh out of the fridge as it would lower the temperature of oil too drastically causing the coating to absorb too much oil.
  4. Heat oil until 155-160°C.
  5. In a large tray filled with sweet potato flour, coat each piece one by one thoroughly. Press the meat down into the flour so it sticks then continue to the next piece. Once all the pieces have been coated, set aside for 15 minutes.
  6. In the preheated pot, gently and slowly add the coated pork into the oil, and do not disturb or move the meat for 1 minute. Then turn, set for another 1 minute. One more turn, set for another 30 seconds. Remove and drain on a tray lined with a paper towel or a rack. Continue with the rest of the batches.
  7. Once all pieces have been fried, increase the oil temperature to 180°C.
  8. Fry each piece for 20 seconds to double fry for extra crispiness. Remove and drain. Season with a little bit of salt.
  9. Serve hot with pickled cucumbers.