Simple yet aromatic and delicious egg fried rice topped with perfectly seasoned pork chop cutlet that is crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Inspired by Taiwan Din Tai Fung restaurant. A short video tutorial is included
Put the water, salt, sugar, and baking soda in a saucepan. You don't need to bring to a rolling boil and just cook until the salt and sugar dissolves. Make sure the salt really dissolves. Set aside to let it cools down completely
Prepare the pork chops:
Cut some slits on the fat side of the pork chops. This prevents the meat from curling up during cooking.
Use a meat tenderizer to tenderize the pork chop to about 1.5x its original size and about 1/2-inch thick. I use a pestle to do this since I don't have a meat tenderizer. Don't over do it or the meat will be too thin and turn into a mush after marinated
Brine the pork chops:
Once the brine has cooled down, put the pork in the brine solution and let them soak in the brine for 1 hour max. Don't over do it or the pork chops will have mushy texture from over brining
Marinated the pork chops:
Prepare the marinade by combining all the ingredients and set aside
After brining, rinse the pork chops to get rid of the salt and baking soda with clean water. You don't need to pat the pork chops dry. This helps keep the pork chops moist and tender
Pour the marinade over the pork chops and rub all over, cover and let them marinade overnight in the fridge for the best result
On the day of serving, cook the fried rice first:
Use your clean hands to separate any clumps from the rice. Leftover refrigerated rice is perfect because they are drier and easy to separate the clumps. This helps a lot when you stir fry they won't stick to each other
Preheat your wok over high heat. Add 1 Tbsp of oil. Crack in eggs and scramble for about 10 seconds. The eggs should be only about 50% cooked at this point. Add rice and stir to break up any lumps and make sure the rice grains are coated with the eggs. Add seasonings and continue to stir fry until the rice grains are really dry
Have a taste and add more salt and/or sugar as needed to suit your taste. Sprinkle with chopped green onion
Frying the pork chop:
Bring the pork chops out from the fridge about 1 hour before you plan to cook. Preheat about 1 inch of oil over medium heat. When you dip a skewer into the oil, you'll see bubbles around it. The oil is ready
Fry the pork chops in batches, ideally about 2 at a time. Fry for about 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oil to an absorbent paper towel. Repeat with the rest
Serving:
Rest the pork chops for 5 minutes. Don't cut the pork chops right away after frying or you will lose all the juice and the pork chops end up dry and tough
Portion out the fried rice on a serving plate and top with the pork chop slices. Sprinkle with some chopped green onion and serve immediately