Hong Kong Style Pork Chop with Onions 港式洋蔥豬扒 is an easy and popular home style sweet and sour pork. Ketchup is the main ingredient in the sauce. In the 1970’s, the ketchup version that we know today was a very accessible and economical condiment in many Asian developing countries. As more westernized dishes became more desirable, and fresh tomatoes being unaffordable, ketchup was the “go to” sauce to use instead of tomatoes.
Interestingly enough….the word “ketchup” and its origins are actually Chinese! It’s true! The word, Ketchup, is from the word, 膎汁, which in Hokkien Chinese dialect (also known as Min Nan dialect) sounds like “ke-tsiap”. Ke-tsiap was a sauce made from fermented fish and meats. Basically, it's the “fish sauce” that we know of today. Fish sauce was invented in 300BC and was traded by merchants from Fujian province to other parts of Asia. The British acquired some in Malaysia and brought it back to England in the 1700’s. At the time, the Malaysians and Indonesians called it "kecap". Today, kecap refers to sweet soy sauce.
The British added tomatoes to it in the 1800’s, and they removed the fish and meat components. It's pretty much the same recipe today and is the most popular version of ketchup. Prior to this, there was oyster ketchup, mushroom ketchup, anchovy ketchup and much more. They all contained fermented seafood and meats.
My Hong Kong Style Pork Chop with Onions 港式洋蔥豬扒 is a very simple recipe that the whole family will love, especially kids. It’s a great summer dish that can stimulate your appetite even during hot weather. You can use the recipe for chicken, beef or fish.
Given the origins of ketchup, is Hong Kong Style Pork Chop with Onions 港式洋蔥豬扒 still a westernized dish or a Chinese dish? Regardless of the category, all that really matters is that it’s easy, yummy and goes great with rice!
For the full Hong Kong experience, how about adding a Hong Kong Lemon Tea 港式檸檬茶? Looking for more recipes? Check out my Hong Kong café recipe section.
Hong Kong Style Pork Chop with Onions 港式洋蔥豬扒
Ingredients
- 700 g Pork chop , pork butt, pork loin or pork tenderloin
- 1 Large onion (approx. 300 g)
- 2 tbsp Oil
Ingredients for marinade:
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 ½ tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Cornstarch
Ingredients for sauce:
- 3 tbsp Ketchup
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp White vinegar
- 2 tsp Cornstarch
- 90 ml Water
Instructions
- Cut pork into desired size
Mine were cut to 1.5 cm thick, then 3 cm pieces 
- Marinate the pork with 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 ½ tsp sugar and 2 tsp cornstarch for 15 minutes. Set aside
- Slice onions
- In a container, mix 3 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 2 tsp cornstarch and 90 ml water. Mix well and set aside
- In a fry pan, heat to medium-high heat, add 2 tbsp oil and fry the pork until browned (approx. 2 minutes each side). Remove pork from pan and set aside. Leave the oil in the pan
- Add onions to the pan. Fry until soften
- Give the sauce mixture a mix and pour it into the pan. Stir until thicken
- Add pork back into the pan, lower heat to low, cover with lid and let braise for 10 minutes
- Serve
This was excellent!
Hi Liz, I like your style...short and to the point! Thank you for trying out my recipe! Happy cooking!
Awesome. Made it twice for my girlfriend. We both love it.
Hi Hong! Looks perfect! Lucky girlfriend!
So excited to find your site. Some good Hong Kong dishes. This was a simple easy recipe. Sauce was good but the pork chops wasn’t tender enough and didn’t have enough taste inside. I used boneless center cut chops and even use clever end to chop the pork in hopes it would make it more tender. Even marinated longer than the 15 min. Any further advice for me to improve?
Hi Shelly, thanks for trying out my recipe! I prefer using pork butt for this recipe. Pork butt is generally more tender than pork chops due to higher fat content. The key to tender pan-fried pork is searing. Pork should be at room temperature before frying. Sear the pork on medium-high or high heat to get a good sear on both sides. This will lock-in the juices. Then you can cook it at a lower temperature until meat is fully cooked. The lower temperature braising will soften and breakdown the membranes so that the meat is tender. Depending on the application and the type of meat, I don't usually like to tenderize (using the clever end) the meat because it causes more loss in natural juices during frying unless you're using a super hot wok (but even that may not work). You're actually increasing the surface area of the meat and creating more holes for the juices to escape. This can result in improper searing and drying out the meat. As for flavour, for this dish, the flavour is from the sauce which is why marination is short. Also note that increased marinating time will decrease the juices in the meat. For example, meats soaked in brine for hours will often be tender but not juicy. I personally prefer tasting the natural meat juices on the inside and having the flavour of the sauce on the outside.
The above are my general observations on why your dish might have fallen a bit short. How to improve on it, in my opinion:
1. try using pork butt at 1.5cm thick 2. Don't tenderize using cleaver 3. For more flavour on the inside, marinate for 3 hours (I don't recommend any more than that to retain moisture)
Hope this helps! Happy cooking!
Absolutely tasty! My mom passed away many years ago and I miss her home cooking. I have recently developed an allergy to shellfish and it’s hard for me to find Hong Kong recipes. I stumbled upon your website and made your dish. It reminded me of my mom’s and it gave me nostalgia back when I was a little kid. Thank you for helping me remember her in a very special way.
Hi Stephanie, I find it very interesting that smells and tastes are such significant factors in triggering memories. I lost my husband about 9 years ago and because he loved steak, I'm automatically reminded of him when we have steak! I'm sorry to hear that your mom is not with you anymore. I'm sure she's very happy about you making the dishes that she used to make. If there's any other dishes you liked that she made and is not on my recipe list, let me know, maybe I can come up with a recipe for you. Happy cooking!