Lemon Grass Sliced Pork Chop

I can hardly stop myself from reaching out my hand every time I passed sauces and condiments aisle in Asian market. Those little bottles lining up on the shelves have unspeakable attractiveness in them. Their seem like secret short cuts to culinary greatness. And the colorful packages simply create a persuasive illusion that your dishes, with these sauces, can be as tempting and glossy as they look.

Of course the above is one of the many afterthoughts I had after I fall victim of their marketing trick every time I pass by. This week, I bought a bottle of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon) Sauce (香茅酱).

The flavor of lemongrass is ten times better than it actually looks (see pic above). Its harmless, boring look never draws my attention in Asian markets. If it were not for my sudden whim, I would miss another great cook idea.

My first attempt at the lemongrass sauce is the pork chop. I sliced thin a 8-ounce pork chop then massage the slices with one teaspoon of the sauce - the sauce has an overwhelming sweet taste with a citrus kick in it. Something in the sauce reminds of Cha siu sauce. So barbecue pork ribs with lemongrass naturally becomes my planned experiment next week. After I marinaded the pork with the sauce for 20-min, I put in some corn starch and massage the meat again so that they will be extra tender when I stir fry them. As a side I also quickly stir fried (about 2 min) some asparagus seasoned with black pepper, salt, and crushed sesame. The sugar in the sauce gave the sliced pork chop a nice caramel cover under high heat - almost making it crispy on the outside. Since I used a very light coat of corn starch the crispiness is overwhelmed by the tenderness of the meat, which was a happy surprise. All in all, not a bad first attempt.