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Lemongrass Grilled Pork Chop with Broken Rice

Counter 02 · Pork

Lemongrass Grilled Pork Chop with Broken Rice

The Saigon street plate known as com tam: thin chops soaked in lemongrass, fish sauce and caramel, charred fast and served with broken rice, scallion oil and nuoc cham.

4.8 287 cooks rated this
Prep
25 min
Cook
30 min
Serves
4
Level
Medium
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Street stalls across Saigon grill these chops over charcoal from breakfast on, and the smell of caramelized lemongrass carries for blocks. The secret is a thin cut, pounded even flatter, so the sugary marinade chars before the meat can toughen. Broken rice cooks up softer than whole grains and soaks up the tangy fish sauce dressing. At home a grill pan or a very hot broiler works fine. Marinate at least two hours; overnight gives the chops their signature deep amber color.

Method

  1. Lightly pound the chops to an even 3/8 inch. Mix the lemongrass, two-thirds of the garlic, 3 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar, the honey and 1 tbsp oil, then coat the chops and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

  2. Cook the broken rice with 2 1/2 cups water in a covered saucepan over low heat for 18 minutes, then let it steam off the heat for 10 minutes.

  3. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a small pan until hot, pour it over the scallions in a heatproof bowl and stir in a pinch of salt.

  4. For the nuoc cham, whisk the remaining 1 tbsp fish sauce and 1 tbsp brown sugar with the lime juice, 1/3 cup warm water, the rest of the garlic and the chili.

  5. Heat a grill or grill pan to high, about 500 F. Grill the chops 3 to 4 minutes per side, until the edges char and the center reaches 145 F.

  6. Rest the chops 5 minutes, then plate each with a mound of rice topped with scallion oil, cucumber slices and a small bowl of nuoc cham for spooning.

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