- First, prepare your toasted rice powder by dry frying two tablespoons of raw sticky rice in a medium-hot pan until golden brown all over (move the pan often to prevent the rice from burning). If you can’t find sticky rice, uncooked jasmine rice will also work for this. Leave to cool before grinding the rice in a pestle and mortar until you get a coarse powder, then set aside.
- Next, make your dried chilli powder for the salad dressing. Dry fry the dried Thai chillies in a medium-hot pan until dark and toasted. Leave to cool before grinding them in a pestle and mortar until you get a coarse powder, then set aside.
- Combine the marinade ingredients and coat your porc chop all over. Leave this to marinade while you prepare the rest of the dish.
- Place all the salad ingredients, except the whole chillies, into a bowl and mix well.
- Make the dressing by placing all the ingredients into a bowl and stirring to dissolve the sugar. Taste the dressing and adjust the flavours to your preference – the chilli powder is fiery, so add as little or as much as you want (I use a large sprinkle). The dressing should be spicy, sour and salty with a little sweetness coming through. Set this aside until you’re ready to dress the salad.
- Now cook the porc chop. Pan-fry the chop for about five minutes per side until nicely charred, then spend some time cooking the fat on the end of the chop using a pair of kitchen tongs so that the fat melts and caramelises. Once cooked, let this rest for a few minutes on a warm plate, and season with pepper.
- Now plate up. Finish the salad by tossing together with the dressing until nicely coated. Slice up your chop and serve a large handful of the salad on the side, sprinkling with more of the toasted rice powder and garnishing with the whole chillies. Add a ball of sticky rice and you’re ready to enjoy.
Tomahawk pork chop with nam tok herb salad by The Hangry Bear
- Prep time 25 mins
- Cook time 10 mins
- Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 tomahawk pork chop, rind removed and fat scored
For the marinade:
- 2 tbsp Thai light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp caster sugar
For the salad:
- a handful of coriander
- a small handful of mint leaves
- 4 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves, cut into very thin strips
- 2 lemongrass stalks (hard outer layer removed), finely sliced
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced
- 3 Thai shallots or small round shallots, finely sliced
- 1 tsp toasted rice powder (see method step 1)
- 3 whole Thai dried chillies, for the garnish
For the salad dressing:
- 3 limes, juiced
- 2 tsp palm sugar or soft brown sugar
- 4 tbsp Thai fish sauce
- 3 tbsp water
- 6 dried Thai chillies (see method step 2)
Method
For Porc From Wales Week 2022, we teamed up with @bradleyhangrybear – aka South Wales-based food blogger Bradley – to show why we should be choosing to source our pork locally.
Here’s what Bradley says about his recipe:
“I’ve paired this north eastern Thai style herb salad with an impressive bone-in tomahawk pork chop, which has the added bonus of the marbled pork belly attached (if you ask your butcher for this cut, they will know exactly what you mean).
“This is a substantial dish which is great for sharing with family and friends. The fatty pork chop, when caramelised, stands up to the fiery and punchy flavours of the herb salad and would be even better grilled on the BBQ.”