Thit Heo Nuong - Vietnamese Pork Chops

 Ingredients:

2-4 Tbsp brown sugar or Splenda
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce (nuoc mam or patis)
1 stalk green onion, cut into 1/2" sections
1 stalk Lemon grass, crushed and roughly chopped
8 cloves garlic, crushed and minced fine
2 Tbsp canola oil
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp MSG (optional)
6-10 Boneless Pork Loin Chops

Procedure:

• Combine and mix well sugar, fish sauce, green onions, lemongrass, chopped garlic, MSG, black pepper and oil. Pour over chops in a shallow dish. Let marinate 3 to 4 hours, turning meat occasionally.
• Grill over charcoal or bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to 60 minutes or until cooked well done.

Serves 4-6 Enjoy!!
Let's kaukau na!! :)

This recipe is from Auntie Yvonne. She makes this her specialty at family gatherings and we all love it! The pork chops go well served with cucumber slices and iceberg lettuce over fragrant jasmine rice!! The dipping sauce is the spicy sweet sauce called nuoc cham used with the vietnamese crispy spring rolls (cha gio).

Mini Cheeseburgers (White Castle Style)

Ingredients:

2lbs fresh lean ground beef
1/2 round yellow or white onion, chopped and minced fine
1 Tbsp garlic powder
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
2 pinches coarse Hawaiian sea or kosher rock salt
dash of MSG (optional)
1 egg
1 slice of wheat bread, blended into breadcrumbs or broken into pieces and chopped with knife
Best Foods Mayonaise
Kraft American Cheese Singles
round or square dinner rolls, sliced in half like mini hamburger buns--square if you want that White Castle style burgers
tomato ketchup (optional)
sliced pickles (optional)

Equipment:

George Foreman Grill
plastic spatula

Procedure:

• In a mixing bowl add ground beef and all ingredients. Mix egg and breadcrumbs into meat mixture with clean hands.
• Preheat George Foreman Grill to high for 5 minutes. Use Pam cooking spray to treat teflon surface and wipe away any excess.
• Roll meat into 3-inch meatballs and flatten into patties with your hands and arrange patties on a clean tray or plate.
• Add to grill arranging patties evenly on cooking surface. Close grill and cook well done for about 6-10 minutes or until done. Fat will drain from grill into pan. Meat should be seared nicely on both sides and be moist on the inside.
• Set cooked patties aside to cool slightly while you prepare the buns.Slice dinner rolls in half and spread a nice thin layer of mayo on the insides.
• Add one cooked pattie and top with one slice of cheese folded in half then with optional pickle slices and or ketchup.
• Top with other half of bun and place all mini cheeseburgers back into a cleaned George Foreman Grill.
• Cook until cheese is melted and buns become toasted crisp. Longer if you want it more
  toasted.
  

Makes approximately 12-14 mini cheeseburgers!
Individually wrap each one for a quick snack later or all for a White Castle cheeseburger attack! :D Enjoy and let's kaukau!!

By the way I just got this practically new "broken" George Foreman Grill from my brother-in-law Les. It was sitting in his garage in the junk pile smiling at me saying "Reggie take me home with you!!" :D I asked Les before when I saw it somewhere in his kitchen about using it and did mention back then and now that it was broken and they used it only a few times. With my electronics background I knew it could just be a short circuited wire or a fuseable link that was the problem. Sure enough after opening it up it was a burnt wire on one of the electrode terminals. So off I went to Radio Shack to get a soldering iron since my brother took his one back from me last year. I had it on "borrow" indefinitely. ;) I resoldered the joint and plugged the unit back in and it was ready to go! I christened it with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches panini style since I was already in a cheesy fix from the previous post. :) My sister Lynn had a George Foreman Grill and I wanted it before she moved to LA. She ended up taking it with her! :P I already tried grilled pork chops on it and we're loving it! Sorry Les this baby is happy with me!! lol :D