Ingredients:

part (a)

• 4 pork chops, boneless
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cooking wine. Note: I used Taiwanese cooking michiu wine, not to be confused with Japanese sweet rice wine.
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 1/8 tsp five-spice powder
• 1 tsp Chinese barbecue sauce
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

part (b)

• 1 cup bread crumbs. Known also as Panko, a flaky bread crumb used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy coating for fried foods
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup tapioca starch or corn starch
• 6 -8 Tbsp. of cooking oil

Instructions:

1. Flatten the pork chop, then marinate with the seasonings and ingredients listed in part (a) for at least three hours.
2. Place the tapioca starch, beaten egg, bread crumbs in three separate plates.
3. Dip both sides of each pork chop into the above ingredients in the following order: first, tapioca starch; second, egg mixture; and third, bread crumbs.
4. Heat the cooking oil in a wok and sear the pork chop first. Then cook the meat over medium-high temperature heat until it turns golden brown on both sides.
5. Cut the pork chop into slices and serve.

What is Chinese barbecue sauce?

Chinese barbecue sauce, unlike the barbecue sauce you might find at KFC, doesn’t contain tomatoes. It’s a flavorful concoction of ingredients ranging from hoisin to black bean paste. You can pick it up in most Asian grocery stores, but if you can’t find it in a store near you, the classic barbecue sauce is readily available for purchase online.

Hint

Flattening the pork chop will increase the tenderness of meat. When dipping the pork chop slices into the bread crumbs, gently press both sides of the pork chop into the plate to ensure that the crumbs stay in place.