Lunch: Grilled Pork chops w/ broken rice and Nuoc mam (fish sauce)

Looks a bit plain because I made the pork/egg meatloaf the night before and it failed very badly! The recipe I used it had a typo and had 2 tablespoons of pepper and a tablespoon of salt when it was meant to be a teaspoon >.<

However, I still wanted to make the pork chops. I love ordering the Broken rice dish at the vietnamese restaurants~ And I have a specific way of eating it too lol.

but OMG the pork chops are the best ever!! Better than some restaurants where the meat is dry. Mine were soft and very juicy! I can still smell the marinade as I type lol. I used the recipe that uses 6 pork chops so I had to cut it down at a ratio.

Marinade (for 6 pork chops)
3 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs dark soy sauce
1 tbs oil
1 tbs minced garlic

marinate the pork chops for at least 2 hours.

I was excited whilst cooking and being nervous knowing that I might overcook or undercook it. It's also my b/f favourite dish so I HAVE to do it justice! I failed the meatloaf although not all restaurants serve that.

I stared at my plate knowing something else was missing... our tomatoes were old and the meatloaf was fail... we were both happy with the pork chop that we forgot that the egg was missing!



Also can't have a vietnamese dish without the fish sauce (Nuoc mam) which I made! I didn't cheat and buy this time!The first batch I thought I killed it as soon as I added lime juice. It smelt funny too... but apparently it's still a sauce but used more for seafood and green mangoes. So I just made another batch but without adding the lime juice

Nuoc Mam:
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 garlic cloves, chopped
carrots, grated
2 tablespoons lime juice (optional)

Combine the fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and 125 ml (1/2 cup) of water in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir well and cook until just before boiling point is reached. allow it to cool and add grated carrots and garlic.

You might wanna find jars to store them in... I was almost tempted to use a Bundaburg glass bottle... or a soft drink bottle.. which would be weird especially if someone wants to open your fridge and find that they think is a drink, pull it out and drink out of the bottle.... no... just... no...

Pantry: Pork Broth

A new tag "pantry" is inspired by a masterchef who basically prepares his stocks every Sunday and stores them in the freezer so he can use them whenever he wants at his convenience during his busy life.

And because some vietnamese dishes take hours to prepare, I thought of making the broth, which can be used to make different noodle dishes. Also inspired by a new food blog I added "The Ravenous Couple". Do have a look if you love vietnamese food like I do~ I want to make recipes they make.

Unfortunately the butchers has less than the intended amount I wanted (2kg) but I settled with 1.5kg of pork soup bones. The Ravenous Couple used spareribs but pork bones are cheaper (also I found out I can save money on dog food food by feeding these to the dogs). Anyway I managed to keep to the pork/water ratio and only managed to make about 6 cups of stock. Which is odd cos I put in 9 cups.

Well I simmered it for 1.5 hours and I had to skim a lot of fat and oil, which took some "liquid gold" with it and they must have evaporated while I was skimming.

What noodles recipes am I gonna make with this? You'll find out soon.