Over the years, I’ve struggled to find a good way to prepare boneless pork chops. They cook quickly, so I’m often tempted to pick them up when I’m browsing in the supermarket for weeknight supper ingredients.

Often, I end up slicing the meat and tossing it into stir-fries, which is great but limiting.

Some months ago, I found a terrific 30-minute recipe for them in Suzie Lee’s “Simply Chinese” cookbook, which is a great resource for busy home cooks who love Chinese food, because it is filled with recipes for flavorful dishes that come together quickly.

Her Peking Pork Chops are a notable example. Lee lightly pounds the chops just to tenderize them, cuts them into chunks and briefly marinates them – just five minutes, but you can leave them for up to 12 hours if you like.

She then dusts the pieces in a mixture of cornstarch and flour and fries them before tossing them in a big-flavored Peking-style sauce made with ketchup, chili oil, hoisin sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt and five-spice powder.

The result was a dish of tender, big-flavored pork that we’ve enjoyed again and again.

“The sauce is so tasty that you can use any meat or veg as an alternative to pork,” Lee writes in her cookbook. And she’s right. I’ve tried it on fried chicken tenders as well as roasted potatoes. I imagine it would be terrific on crisped tofu cubes as well.

“Simply Chinese” is the first cookbook from Lee, the 2020 winner of the BBC’s “Best Home Cook” competition, who went on to host her own BBC show in Northern Ireland, where she grew up.

Her parents, who hailed from Hong Kong, ran Man Lee, a Chinese takeout restaurant, which her father, Peter, still operates in Lisburn. She credits her family, especially her mother, Celia, who died in 2000 when Lee was 16, with giving her a love for cooking.

In her book, which has been translated into several languages, she recalls how in 1999, her mother refused to cook the Christmas meal for her family, forcing Lee to take the reins and prepare food for more than 40 relatives. The Peking Pork Chops recipe was handed down to her from her “Auntie” Linda, who made the dish for family gatherings.

Lee continues to embrace the opportunities that have come her way after winning the BBC cooking competition, while still working as an accountant and raising her two children, Zander and Odie.

As I’ve cooked my way through the cookbook, I’ve learned lots of tips and tricks for getting a meal on the table a little more quickly. That’s as Lee intended because, as she notes, she knows the value of a good “rustle-up” – one of the challenges in the BBC competition, which means pulling together a meal from what’s in the pantry or refrigerator. She often offers variations or ways to use a dish’s sauce in a different way.

She gets what it’s like to be busy but still want to cook at home: She may offer a recipe for making your own bao buns, but she also notes that you can buy them ready-made. Her goal is to get people into the kitchen cooking.

As she notes, “food for me is the cornerstone of family life as it brings everyone together.”

Peking Pork Chops

Here, boneless pork chops are lightly pounded just to tenderize, then sliced into chunks and briefly marinated before being fried and tossed in a dark, big-flavored sauce. “The sauce is so tasty that you can use any meat or veg as an alternative to pork,” Suzie Lee writes in her cookbook, “Simply Chinese.” If you are serving this with rice, put the rice on before you start cooking, and everything should be ready at about the same time.

4 servings

Active time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PORK CHOPS:

1 pound 3/4-inch-thick boneless pork chops, trimmed of fat

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch, divided

1 1/2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine

1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 large egg

3/4 cup vegetable oil, for frying

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

FOR THE SAUCE:

3 tablespoons ketchup

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon chili oil

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Cooked white or brown rice, for serving (optional)

Sliced scallions, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS

To tenderize the pork chops, place them on a cutting board, uncovered, and, using the “tooth” side of a meat mallet, pound them 4 or 5 times on each side; then cut them into 3 or 4 pieces.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch, the Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, five-spice powder, sesame oil and egg until well combined. Add the pork and toss to coat. Cover and marinate for at least 5 minutes on the counter, or refrigerate overnight.

Line a platter with towels and place it near the stove. In a wok or skillet over high heat, heat the oil. To test if the oil is hot enough, place the end of a wooden spoon into the oil: Bubbles should immediately fizz around it. If the oil is smoking, it is too hot, so reduce the temperature.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and the flour to the marinated pork and toss to lightly coat each piece. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding, carefully transfer the pork to the hot oil and fry until crisp, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to the prepared platter and repeat with the remaining pork.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, whisk together the ketchup, hoisin sauce, Worcestershire sauce, water, five-spice powder, sugar, chili oil and salt and bring to a vigorous simmer, stirring frequently, until thick and sticky, about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the fried pork to the sauce and toss until well coated, about 2 minutes.

Transfer the pork to a platter, sprinkle with the scallions and serve family-style, with rice on the side, if desired.

Nutritional Facts Per serving: Calories: 327; Carbohydrates: 19 g: Cholesterol: 122 mg; Fat: 14 g; Fiber: 1 g; Protein: 28 g; Saturated Fat: 3 g; Sodium: 1007 mg; Sugar: 9 g.

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