{Recipe} Pork Chops ~ My Mum's Style

Birthdays should be celebrated each year because you will never know when it's gonna be your last. It's a celebration of life, and being thankful for the life given. I'm blessed with a wonderful family who will always make it a point to celebrate each other's birthdays by having a meal together. My mum will always cook up a feast of my favorite dishes, (including chicken wings of course :p), for my birthday.

This year, for a change, I had wanted to cook for my family instead. For quite some time recently, I've been missing my mum's pork chops, a dish which my brother and I enjoyed since we were young. My brother likes it with the tangy tomato gravy while I prefer to enjoy the crispiness of the pork on its own. Mum will always take note of our different preference and plate it separately for us. As we grow up, our taste bud changes. We now like it using chicken thigh instead of pork, and I began to appreciate the taste of tomato gravy. Whatever the variant, this dish will always remain in our hearts as ~ Pork Chops. I wanna try cooking this dish, which I've not done before.

Sadly, the cooking did not materialized on my birthday, for some family reasons which I feel is too personal to elaborate here. But my mum, being a great mum, did not forget. She called me and told me that she's going to cook the dish for me on Christmas, the day when I will be going home. I know this is her way of showing her love for me.

As I'm writing this, another blogger, Daniel Ang tweeted: "To every young parent, learn to cook. Your child will say "I miss my parents' cooking" not "I miss Macs" when they grow up."

I wanna thank my mum for always cooking for us, for giving me the gift of her cooking to miss. From young, I watched her cook in the kitchen and gradually developed a love for cooking too. I wanna learn this pork chop dish from her, so that one day, I can cook it for my children too. And may they enjoy my cooking, as much as I enjoy my mum's.

This recipe is posted with my mum's approval. It's really simple, with a great homey taste, and best enjoyed with white rice.

Presenting to you

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Pork Chops ~ My Mum's Style!

{Recipe}

PORK CHOPS ~ MY MUM'S STYLE
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Ingredients

• Pork Chop x 4 pieces or Chicken Thigh (deboned) x 2 pieces
• Potato x 1 (cubed)
• Green Pea x 1 small can
• Onion x 1 (cubed)
• Tomato x 1 (cubed)
• Egg x 1 (beaten)
• Cream Crackers (finely crushed) 

Seasoning 1

• Soya Sauce x 1 teaspoon
• Pepper 
• Corn Flour x 1 tablespoon

Seasoning 2

• Tomato Sauce x 3 tablespoon
• Sugar x 1 tablespoon
• Soya Sauce x 1 teaspoon
• Water x 200ml

Method

1. Marinate the pork chop/chicken thigh in seasoning 1 for 30 minutes.
2. Shallow fry the potato cubes. Drain and set aside.
3. Dip the marinated pork chop/chicken into the beaten egg and coat it with the finely crushed cream crackers.
4. Shallow fry the pork chop/chicken thigh until cooked and golden brown. Drain and set aside.
5. Cut the pork chop/chicken thigh into small pieces, transfer to a serving plate.
6. Stir fry the potato, green pea, onion and tomato for 2 minutes.
7. Add in seasoning 2. Bring to boil and simmer until the gravy thickens.
8. Pour the gravy over the pork chop/chicken thigh. Serve and enjoy!

I managed to steal a few pieces of these potato cubes as my mum looked away. I'm too greedy to resist eating it lah lol.

 My mum prepared both pork chop and chicken thigh that day. These are ready to be shallow fry.

 And into the oil they go. The oil temperature must not be too high else the coat of finely crushed cream crackers will be burnt before the meat is cooked.

 Just out of the pan, piping hot and crispy! I was so tempted to eat it just like this there and then. The use of cream crackers, instead of breadcrumbs, to coat the meat gives the end product a very nice buttery fragrance.

 Haha but of course I didn't. They were cut into small pieces and waited for tomato gravy.

 The tomato gravy is now ready! Time to eat! :D

What didn't change over the years is... I still don't like the green peas. I may not like it, but my family can still enjoy it. I just need to make a little effort to pick it out or leave it aside. At times I can't be bothered at all, I just swallow it down. It may be easier to not add the green peas at all, but without it, this dish would be incomplete.

It's kinda like how we are as a family. There may be certain things which you don't like or certain habits that you can't stand about your family members. But with a heart to accommodate and compromise, we still stand together a family. The love will always remain, our family is still the greatest and mum's cooking is always the best! :)