Welcome Drool Singapore
So good to meet you! We are Drool, a special webspace where we cook, create and connect. Drool is a community of home chefs who relish in sharing recipes and cooking tips and showcasing culinary creations and concoctions that are delectable treats to both the eye and the palate.
Drool SG is also a food journal that captures the food experiences of founder Diana Loo, self-taught culinary extraordinaire with more than 35 years of experience in home-cooking and more recently, in hosting private dinner parties where she caters her delectable creations.
Recently we have started sharing more recipes contributed by other home chefs and bakers.
Over the next five weeks, we will feature a recipe a week that is tea-inspired, each by a different Drool chef so watch this space! Kicking this off is one by Diana herself, surely a tea-lightful way to do pork chops.
While I think any black tea could work in this recipe, I used Masala Chai tea leaves steeped in coconut cream to give it a rich marinade. Separately, I grounded another 2 tablespoon of the tea and tossed with sesame seeds which makes a perfect crunchy crust for an easy baked chicken or pork chop.
Serves 4
Prep Time: 15 mins
Passive Time: 1 hr
Cook Time: 20 mins
Ingredients
1/3 cup coconut cream
4 tablespoons loose leaf Masala Chai tea, divided (Masala Chai Tea – 2 tbsp to boil with 200ml water; 2 Tbsp to be finely grounded
4 pcs Pork Loin chops
1/3 cup black sesame seeds
1/3 cup white sesame seeds
1 tsp coconut oil + 1 tsp sesame oil
2 eggs, beaten
¾ cup plain flour
Sea salt
Fine ground white pepper
Preparation
1. Combine water and 1 tablespoon of the masala chai tea leaves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat, cover and steep for 7 min. Add the coconut cream to the tea and let cool. Strain and discard the used tea leaves.
2. Once coconut milk tea is cool (at least room temperature), add pork loin chops, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or even better overnight.
3. Grind remaining 2 tablespoons tea leaves in a spice grinder or small food processor until coarsely ground then mix with sesame seeds. Place mixture in a pie dish or other type of wide, shallow bowl.
4. Pound the meat with a meat pounder, or if you don’t have one then just use the back of knife to pound. Mould the extended meat back into original shape with your hands.
5. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
6. Add coconut oil to 1 tsp of sesame oil to mix.
7. Remove pork loin from marinade and onto a shallow dish; discard marinade. Pat dry meat slightly and brush both sides of each pork loin chop with the oil mixture and sprinkle with pinches of sea salt and white pepper.
8. Dredge each pork piece in the flour to coat completely and pat off the excess flour. Then dip into the beaten egg and finally coat with the tea sesame mix. Press on the sesame mix to make sure they adhere to the pork.
9. Place the pork on a prepared baking sheet. Bake until the pork is no longer pink, about 12 mins on one side and another 6 minutes on the other side.
10. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve it with your favorite salad and a store bought or homemade Tonkatsu sauce (similar to Worchestershire sauce). The Japanese version is made with ketchup, Worchestershire sauce, oyster sauce and sugar. You may adjust the proportions according to your taste.
Drool is created by and with Diana Loo. In weekly features, she and her team present the tastiest recipes to foodpanda Magazine readers. Access her work at droolsg.com/.
