Pork chops

Ready in 20 mins | makes 6 portions

The way us Indians cook meat is to cook the life out of it until it's dry and chewy. Here's a pork chop recipe that's the exact opposite... it's pork chops, done right.

(Canada day landed up in the middle of the week in this terrible 2020, so seeing as most of us will party on the weekend, I'm posting this today... and happy Independence day to our wonderful neighbours down south:)

chop chop in motion

Ingredients

• 6 pork chops (mine were 1/2" thick)

• 5 whole cloves

• 1.5 tsp whole fennel

• 1 tsp whole mustard seeds

• 1.5 tsp whole black pepper

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1/2 tbsp raw sugar

• Generous thyme

• Generous rosemary

• 2 large garlic cloves

• 2 tbsp chopped ginger

• Drizzle of EVOO

• About 1 1/4 cup butter

Directions

Check out the video at the bottom if you need to!

1. Add all of the above whole spices in a spice grinder and grind until fine.

2. Finely chop ginger and garlic, or use a microplane to get a pasty consistency.

3. Add fresh ground spices, paprika, ginger and garlic, olive oil, and aromatics (herbs - thyme and rosemary) to a bowl. Mix well. Optional: waft the aromatics and be sure to not drool in the food.

4. Trim any extra fat off the edges of the chops, but not all - you'll need fat to keep it moist and tender.

5. Pat the chops completely dry. Any moisture will not let the spices stick to the meat and when you put it on the grill, it will just boil. No one likes boiled meat.

6. Spread about 1 tsp of the spice blend to each side of the chops. Massage it in a bit so the meat takes the flavours in.

7. Preheat grill to kill any potential corona. No one likes being sick. Lower flames to 400ºF, or on medium-high flame. I like to use grill mats to prevent major flare-ups, and it's just safer for the cooker, the cleaner, and the eater.

8. Place chops on the grill facing away from you do not lay them towards you or else hot oil will sputter on you and your arm will be itching for days without any visible burn marks so just trust me and Gordon Ramsay on this one please thanks.

9. Scrape any seasoning left behind in the bowl onto the chops - waste not, want not! (what the heck does that mean anyways waste not want not)

10. Close the grill and let sit for approximately 5 minutes or until golden brown.

11. Flip the chops and let sit for 6 more minutes or until golden brown.

12. Render the fat!!! Any visible white fat is uncooked, so hold the chop on its side, fat cap down, and let it sizzle on the grizzle until it's nice and melty and soft.

13. Gather the chops in the middle of the bbq and turn off the middle flames, leaving only the most extreme, opposite end flames on. This will keep the chops off direct heat to prevent them from browning further, while allowing it to cook thoroughly.

14. Place 1 tbsp of butter on each chop. Let it melt a little and spread it as evenly as possible over the surface of the chop. Close the grill 2 mins and let it melt into the chop.

15. Flip them over and put another knob of butter on like you did 2 minutes ago. Close and let melt in for about 1-2 minutes, depending on how thick the chops are (thicker = more time)

16. At this point you can test out doneness by taking out the ugliest chop and cutting it straight in half. The inside should be white and glistening... or at least white. Make sure there is no pink. Pink = raw = poison. If you're unsure, or don't want to cut the chop so soon, insert a thermometer until it's halfway through the chop to measure the internal temperature is at least 145ºF. See temperature chart for details.

17. Take out chops when finished and let rest on a pan before cutting into them = this will prevent all that good moisture from seeping out of them.

Masala chai baked pudding

Now I made this recipe thinking I was going to end up with a moist, dense masala chai-infused cake, but I was deliciously wrong. I'm not really too sure what I made lol but I ended up with a dessert that's very similar to Goan bebinca, which is a traditional Indian-Portuguese dessert made from 7 layers of pudding, typically a Christmas dessert. For those of you who may know, it looks kinda like moon cake:) It still tasted great (low sugar, high flavour) and looked interesting, so I thought I'd share anyways!

Ingredients

Chai (did you know chai means tea? so to call it chai tea is like saying tea tea or chai chai:)

• 3 masala chai teabags (sorry I cheated!)

• 3 cardamom pods, opened and slightly crushed

• 2 whole cloves

• 1 tbsp thin sliced ginger

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (yes, one WHOLE tablespoon, trust me!)

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

"Cake"

• 1 3/4 cup AP flour

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 3 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3/4 cup veg oil

• 4 medium eggs (or 3 large)

Directions

Chai

1. Add all chai ingredients except sugar into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, reduce to lowest flame and add sugar. Let simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Take off heat and let steep for 2 hours.

"Cake"

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line the bottom of a 9x13x2.5 inch rectangle pan with parchment.

2. Mix "cake" ingredients except eggs.

3. Add cooled chai and mix well.

4. Add eggs and mix batter on high until all ingredients are well incorporated. If the top seems too oily, just keep mixing it. Batter will seem very liquidy, with lots of small bubbles at the surface.

5. Pour batter into pan. Place a towel on counter and slam the pan onto it to remove any lingering air bubbles from the batter. (ps this tip can be used for any cake you're baking!)

6. Bake for 20-25 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Coffee mousse

Need a solid, strong coffee flavoured cake? Tiramisu too tricky? Marscapone too $$$? Not *boujee* enough for an espresso machine? I've got the solution for you.

You will need:

• 1L tub of Cool Whip (or use 450 mL whip heavy cream or 35% cream)

• 4 tsp lumped unflavoured gelatin

• 2/3 cup strong coffee, room temperature (2 tsp grinds to 2/3 cup water, brewed)

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (+ another 1/3 if you're whipping the cream, see notes)

• 3 tbsp instant coffee

• 3 tbsp boiling water

• 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch

Directions

1. Brew your coffee and let cool until it's warm to the touch (not super hot). Add the gelatin and let it bloom for 3 minutes, then dissolve.

2. In a small bowl, add about 2 tbsp of the coffee mixture to the corn starch. Mix until a paste forms. Stir paste well with the coffee. Let cool to room temperature.

3. If you're using premade whipped cream, skip this step. Whip the cream on high until you get soft peaks (if you take the whisk out, the tops will flop over). Optional: Add an extra 1/3 cup sugar to sweeten the cream. See notes. Whip until you get firm peaks (if you take the whisk out, the peaks won't flop over, they will stay upright. If the cream is no longer smooth, you've over-whipped it and you have butter so start again.)

4. Set water to boil. Once the water is boiling, add to instant coffee and whip on high until it thickens. Add 3 tbsp sugar from the 1/3 measured out. Continue to whip until it's fluffy (if it's still foamy, keep whipping!)

5. Add whipped cream to whipped coffee a little at a time. Fold gently.

6. Gradually add the strong coffee with gelatin and fold thoroughly.

7. Refridgerate for at least 4 hours, mixing thoroughly every hour to prevent any extra liquid from becoming jelly - the mousse won't be smooth.

8. Use as a filling for your favourite cake flavour (I used it as a chocolate cake filling, topped with chocoalte ice cream!) or just eat it straight up because it's sooooo gooooood but you'll probably feel guilty later :)

Notes

• The coffee flavour is very VERY strong so unless you're into that, you will need the sugar to balance out the bitterness.

• If you're using premade whipping cream, keep in mind that it's already sweetened, so you don't need to add that 1/3 cup sugar if you don't want to.

• I suggest you use a hand mixer or stand mixer. Unless you just miss going to the gym and haven't gotten a proper arm workout in 3 months... knock yourself out :)

• If you want to avoid the extra liquid settling on the bottom from ruining the smoothness of the mousse, you can just put the unset mousse directly on your cake and let the liquid soak into it. Be warned, only do this if you're doing something with only one layer of cake on the bottom and mostly mousse on the top, kinda like this cake. If you try to do a layered cake with an unset mousse, you're going to have something this.