Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops

Tasty and succulent Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops, with a simple marinade to give maximum flavour.

Here is another fabulous short-cut recipe for Vietnamese pork chops from Bill Granger’s new book, Bill’s Everyday Asian.

The Vietnamese have a popular dish called sườn nướng where the main component is a pork chop which is typically marinated with garlic, lemongrass and fish sauce. The pork is either grilled or pan-fried until it is golden in colour and caramelised, and served on a bed of plain Jasmine rice with accompaniments such as pickled carrots and daikon, fresh cucumber and tomatoes, and some traditional Vietnamese specialities such as finely shredded pork belly and a steamed pork and egg custard. And if you’re really hungry, you could also order this dish with a fried egg on top, sunny-side up. Some restaurants even offer a small bowl of clear soup on the side to make this truly a complete and satisfying meal.

Nearly all Vietnamese restaurants have this dish on the menu or some variation of it. It is a dish worth ordering in restaurants because you would probably otherwise exhaust yourself at home trying to get all of the components on the dish.

At home, my mum frequently made the pork chops which was simply served with plain Jasmine rice and maybe a simple salad on the side. She always had a bottle of homemade nước chấm (Vietnamese dipping sauce) in the fridge and we would drizzle this sauce over the pork and rice before eating.

I particularly love the pork and egg custard that is often served with this dish in restaurants and so does my mum, so we are often disappointed if some restaurants simply don’t offer it or it is not made to our expectations (not that we are connaiseurs but we have tried this savoury custard in many restaurants to know what is good and what is not). I love to make this pork and egg custard at home when time permits, although, these days, it is precisely time which seems to be always lacking.

I like to make these pork chops the way my mum does, which is to marinate it overnight with garlic, lemongrass, fish sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Lemongrass can be sometimes hard to find in Zurich (let alone when I am working in the suburbs of Illinois) so I sometimes leave it out, but then I often regret doing so because its fragrant and citrusy flavour is so fundamental to a lot of Vietnamese dishes.

So it was with some hesitation that I tried Bill Granger’s recipe because of the missing key ingredient, but I was rather open-minded about the experiment, in the same way that I was when I tried his recipe for Chicken Curry Soup. Bill’s marinade calls for only garlic, sugar and fish sauce. And he suggests marinating the meat for only 15 minutes. Of course, the meat will be more flavourful the longer you marinate it, but 15 minutes seems to be sufficient, during which time you can put the rice cooker on and prepare a light salad. I found the simple marinade gave a nice flavour to the meat and, if you have time to make some nouc cham to serve as a light dressing over the meat and rice, you would have yourself a delicious meal, Vietnamese-style.

I tried this recipe during a busy working week when I didn’t have time to go the Asian grocer and had to make do with ingredients I could find from the normal supermarket on the way home from work. It was amazingly quick to prepare and, yet again, I was grateful to have found a short-cut recipe for a traditional favourite. Of course, if I had more time during the week, I think I would prefer to go the extra distance and make my usual marinade and let the meat marinate overnight. But given the busy past few weeks (or has it been months??) where even boiling pasta has felt time-consuming, it’s good to know that there are some short-cuts which are worthwhile taking.

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Vietnamese Grilled Pork

vietnamese pork chops with rice

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5 from 1 review

  • Author: eatlittlebird.com
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 2

Tasty and succulent Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops, with a simple marinade to give maximum flavour.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce (nuoc mam)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 pork cutlets (with or without bone)

Instructions

  1. Mix together the sugar, fish sauce, garlic and olive oil in a small bowl.
  2. Place the pork cutlets in a medium zip-lock freezer bag and pour the marinade over the meat.
  3. Make sure the meat is well-coated with the marinade and leave it aside for 15-30 minutes to marinate. If you live somewhere warm, you might be best advised to put the meat in the fridge whilst it is marinating, otherwise it is fine in a cool space on the kitchen counter.
  4. Meanwhile, cook some Jasmine rice according to packet instructions and prepare a light salad or other accompaniments, such as raw beans, cucumbers or tomatoes.
  5. Heat a large frying pan with some oil and cook the pork cutlets for about 4-5 minutes on both sides until browned. If there is any fat or rind on your pork cutlets, use a pair of tongs to hold the fat side down on the pan to render the fat.
  6. Serve on top of steamed Jasmine rice with vegetable accompaniments and nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce) as a dressing (see Kitchen Notes below).

Kitchen Notes

VIETNAMESE DIPPING SAUCE (NUOC CHAM)
To make nuoc cham, Bill Granger’s recipe is to dissolve 1 tablespoon of caster sugar in 3 tablespoons of lime juice and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce. Add 1 finely chopped clove of garlic and some chopped red chillies. The sauce keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.

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7 comments

  1. Billie 28 October 2011

    Beautiful Creme, looks simple but stunning and you just know how good it will taste. I wondered if you would be willing to share your usual marinade as I would love to try both?

    Reply
    • eat, little bird 28 October 2011

      Hi Billie! Of course! I hope to put my own recipe up on this blog shortly but I will email it to you 🙂

      Reply
  2. manu 28 October 2011

    Sounds yummy!
    Have a nice week end

    Reply
  3. At Anna's Kitchen Table 28 October 2011

    It does sound and look delicious! I’m all for short-cuts, free time can be so limited!

    Reply
  4. Reem | Simply Reem 28 October 2011

    wow this looks delicious….
    Have a great weekend dear.

    Reply
  5. Julia Levy 29 October 2011

    That loos both stunningly simply and absolutely gorgeous at the same time. I just adore the caramelized edges around the chop. I’d also love to see your real recipe and look forward to you posting it.

    Reply
  6. Julia 12 April 2018

    Oh my! That looks so tender. Ultimate comfort food! I definitely want to try this! Thank you for sharing this great recipe!






    Reply