I used my plancha for this; a great piece of kitchen equipment which derives from Spain’s Basque country and is used at very high temperatures. But you can use a skillet, grill or frying pan if you don’t have one. The benefit of a plancha is that the heat distributes evenly through it, rather than intensifying at the spot above the heat beneath the pan. Food will caramelise beautifully on a plancha without burning. And caramelisation is a pork chop’s best friend.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

4 pork chops

⅓ cup soy sauce

⅓ cup sweet soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

3 cm piece of ginger, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 fresh or dried red chillies, chopped finely, including seeds

3 Tbsp peanut oil or other flavourless oil

200 g dried egg noodles soaked in boiled (but not boiling) water for 15 minutes, then drained

250 button mushrooms, sliced

For the mushrooms and noodles:

1 Tbsp dark soy sauce

1 Tbsp sweet soy sauce or kecap manis

1 Tbsp lime juice

1 tsp sesame oil (mix these four together in a ramekin and have it ready to use when you cook the mushrooms)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200℃. Soak the noodles in boiled water as above.

In a bowl or bakkie big enough to hold the four chops, mix together the soy sauces, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and chilli, douse the chops in it on all sides, and leave to marinate for a couple of hours or at least half an hour. It doesn’t take very long for strong flavours such as these to penetrate the meat.

Heat the peanut oil on a plancha on the stove top or in a skillet. Drain the marinade off the chops and fry them on one side for 5 minutes on a fairly high heat. When all 4 chops are browned on one side, flip them to fry the other side for 5 minutes, pouring the marinade over the cooked side.

Put the skillet or plancha in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Heat a little peanut oil in a wok or other pan. Add the sliced mushrooms and stir-fry for a minute, then add the soy sauces, sesame oil and lime juice (which you have to hand in a ramekin, right?) and stir-fry on a high heat until the mushrooms are cooked, about five minutes.

Drain the noodles and toss them through the mushrooms and sauce so that they are well coated. 

Get your soy chops out of the oven and serve with the mushroom noodles. DM/TGIFood 

To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at [email protected] 

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