Suon Nuong (Vietnamese Pork Chops)

INGREDIENTS

½ cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
⅓ cup thinly sliced shallots
¼ cup thinly sliced lemongrass
2 tbsp. peanut oil
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. ground black pepper
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb. ¼″-thick pork blade chops, pounded thin ( 6 veprovych kotlet )

Cooked white rice and nuoc cham (Vietnamese chili-garlic sauce), fried eggs for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat ½ cup of sugar in a 1-qt. heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, swirling pan often, until sugar dissolves and turns to liquid caramel. Remove from heat; add ¼ cup boiling water. Return pan to heat; cook, swirling pan gently, until caramel dissolves in water. Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to a food processor along with remaining sugar, shallots, lemongrass, oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, pepper, and garlic; purée until smooth. Place pork chops in a 9″ × 13″ baking dish and pour over purée; cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.

2. Heat a 12″ cast-iron grill pan over high heat. Working in batches, add chops; cook, turning once, until charred in spots and cooked through, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately with rice,fried eggs and chili-garlic sauce.

Vietnamese dressing

• 30 ml (¼ cup) fish sauce 
• 30 ml (¼ cup) rice vinegar 
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 70 ml (¼ cup) water
• 1 garlic clove, very finely chopped 
• 1 red birdseye chilli, very finely chopped 
• 1 tbsp lime juice

To make the dressing, place fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and water in a pan over medium heat and stir to combine. Bring mixture to just below boiling point, then set aside to cool. Add garlic, chilli and lime juice, and stir to combine.