Hainanese Pork Chop

Serves 4 - 6

For the meat:
5- 6 pieces of pork cutlets
2 tablespoons water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 beaten egg
Pinch of finely ground white pepper
About 10 cream crackers (or you can use normal breadcrumbs or panko)
Vegetable, peanut or ground nut oil for frying

Vegetables:
2 small - medium waxy potatoes, cut into wedges
2 red onions, cut into wedges
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Large handful of canned or frozen peas
Vegetable, peanut or ground nut oil for frying

Sauce:
10 tablespoons water or stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon HP sauce
1/2 tablespoon chili sauce/hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper

1. Tenderise the pork by flattening the cutlets with a mallet.

2. Marinade the  pieces in the water, salt, sugar, beaten egg and white pepper.

3. Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips (or whatever shape you like!). Soak them in water to prevent them from discolouring.

4. Pound he cream crackers till they resemble breadcrumbs.

5. Cut the onions and tomatoes into wedges, and chop up the garlic.

6. In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients for the sauce.

7. Drain and pat dry the potatoes and shallow fry them wok or pan in oil till they're golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Reserve the oil for later.

8. In another pan or wok, heat up fresh oil. Coat the cutlets in the breadcrumbs and fry them till golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

9. Using the reserved oil from the potatoes, fry the onions till they soften and become translucent. Then add the garlic and fry for a minute.

10. Add the sauce, then the tomatoes and peas and simmer till the tomatoes soften.

11. Slice up the pork cutlets.

12. Throw the potatoes and pork back into the sauce to heat up, and serve immediately. (Or, you can place the potatoes and pork in a low oven after frying to keep warm while you make the sauce, then pour over the sauce when ready to serve. )

* You may wish to either increase the amounts for the sauce, or decrease the number of pork cutlets to 4 or 5, or use smaller potatoes, depending on whether you like lots of sauce or not. If you like loads of sauce to eat with steamed rice, I suggest using 4 or 5 cutlets, and smaller potatoes. Or, increasing the amount for the sauce!

I've also done a recipe for Cantonese style Sweet and Sour pork. The sauce and ingredients differ slightly from Hainanese Pork Chop. The former uses slightly fatty pork, while the latter uses lean pieces of pork. 

During the colonial days in Singapore, British households employed Hainanese cooks and this dish was named probably because it was Hainanese cooks who made it.

It must have been what they thought was Western food as it consists of tomato ketchup and potato chips (fries), HP sauce and Worcestershire sauce. But they also used traditional Asian ingredients such as oyster sauce, making it a truly fusion dish. 

To view other Singaporean food recipes:

The Real Singapore Noodles - Char Bee Hoon
Singapore Mutton Soup - Soup Kambing
Pigs Organ Soup 
Singapore Prawn Noodles Soup
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Fishball Minced Pork Noodles
Crockpot Singapore Chicken Curry
Crockpot Chinese Hamburger - Kong Bak Pau
Kung Po Frog Legs
Chinese Roast Pork Belly

Sweet and Sour Pork

Serves 4

For the meat:
500g Sweet & sour pork cut , diced into 2 inch pieces
(the Chinese butcher will know which cut it is. If he doesn't, just use pork belly with rind removed, or pork loin that has quite a bit of fat on)
1/2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate
2 tablespoon water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 egg yolks
1 or 2 pinches of ground white pepper
4 tablespoons cornflour
Peanut oil for frying

Vegetables:
2 red chilies, de-seeded and cut into chunks
2 large red onions, cut into wedges
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large or 2 small green capsicum, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
6 spring onions, cut into 2 inch pieces (for garnish)

Gravy:
10 tablespoons stock or water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons tomato sauce/ketchup
4 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon A1 or HP sauce
1/2 tablespoon chili sauce
1 or 2 pinches of ground white pepper
11/2 tablespoons cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons water

1. Mix all ingredients for the gravy, except the cornflour mixed with water, and set aside.

2. Prepare all vegetables and set aside.

3. Add all ingredients for the meat, except cornflour and oil, and marinade for 15 minutes.

4. Heat the oil in a wok.

5. Place cornflour on a large plate and coat all the pieces of pork.

6. When the oil is hot, fry the pork, and lower the flame to medium/high heat. Fry till crispy and brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.

7. Remove the oil and leave 2 tablespoons. (If it's cloudy, use fresh oil).

8. Fry the onions and chilies till it's slightly softer, add the garlic. Fry till fragrant.

9. Add the gravy and then add the vegetables (except spring onions). Stir and lower the flame to medium, and cover for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but still have some crunch to them.

10. Stir the cornflour and water mixture. Increase the flame to high till it's boiling, and slowly stir in the mixture little by little, until the sauce slightly thickens.

11. Add the pork and let it simmer for a minute.

12. Remove from heat and add the spring onions. Serve.

*This recipe is from my mother, who took it from an extremely old recipe book written by a famous Cantonese chef, Tham Yew Kai. She photocopied the page and gave it to me so there's no link online to the original recipe! You can see I was following the recipe as the photocopy of it is in the picture in the background on the right.

I've kept the sauce exactly as the chef has written, but changed up some of the vegetables. You can adapt it and change those too. I also omitted the vetsin or MSG. The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon added to the marinaded pork. 

To be honest, Mum used a tiny tiny bit of MSG in her cooking growing up. A bit of it changes the flavour of a dish dramatically. I'm not totally opposed to it, as long as you don't use it every single day in every single dish, I'm sure it's probably OK!