Some months in the past, I discovered a terrific 30-minute recipe for them in Suzie Lee’s “Merely Chinese language” cookbook, which is a superb useful resource for busy house cooks who love Chinese language meals, as a result of it’s full of recipes for flavorful dishes that come collectively shortly.
Get the recipe: Peking Pork Chops
Her Peking Pork Chops are a notable instance. Lee evenly kilos the chops simply to tenderize them, cuts them into chunks and briefly marinates them — simply 5 minutes, however you may go away them for as much as 12 hours if you happen to like.
She then dusts the items in a combination of cornstarch and flour and fries them earlier than tossing them in a big-flavored Peking-style sauce made with ketchup, chili oil, hoisin sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt and five-spice powder.
The outcome was a dish of tender, big-flavored pork that we’ve loved repeatedly.
“The sauce is so tasty that you should use any meat or veg as an alternative choice to pork,” Lee writes in her cookbook. And he or she’s proper. I’ve tried it on fried rooster tenders in addition to roasted potatoes. I think about it might be terrific on crisped tofu cubes as effectively.
“Merely Chinese language” is the primary cookbook from Lee, the 2020 winner of the BBC’s “Greatest House Cook dinner” competitors, who went on to host her personal BBC present in Northern Eire, the place she grew up.
Her mother and father, who hailed from Hong Kong, ran Man Lee, a Chinese language takeout restaurant, which her father, Peter, nonetheless operates in Lisburn. She credit her household, particularly her mom, Celia, who died in 2000 when Lee was 16, with giving her a love for cooking.
In her guide, which has been translated into a number of languages, she remembers how in 1999 her mom refused to cook dinner the Christmas meal for her household, forcing Lee to take the reins and put together meals for greater than 40 kin. The Peking Pork Chops recipe was handed all the way down to her from her “Auntie” Linda, who made the dish for household gatherings.
Lee continues to embrace the alternatives which have come her approach after successful the BBC cooking competitors, whereas nonetheless working as an accountant and elevating her two youngsters, Zander and Odie.
As I’ve cooked my approach by the cookbook, I’ve realized plenty of ideas and methods for getting a meal on the desk a bit extra shortly. That’s as Lee meant as a result of, as she notes, she is aware of the worth of a great “rustle-up” — one of many challenges within the BBC competitors, which implies pulling collectively a meal from what’s within the pantry or fridge. She typically presents variations or methods to make use of a dish’s sauce another way.
She will get what it’s wish to be busy however nonetheless need to cook dinner at house: She might provide a recipe for making your individual bao buns, however she additionally notes which you could purchase them ready-made. Her aim is to get folks into the kitchen cooking.
As she notes, “meals for me is the cornerstone of household life because it brings everybody collectively.”
Get the recipe: Peking Pork Chops
