Karate Chops!

   
Karate Chops with a powerful kick!

     "Yes, waiter.  I do believe that I am ready to order.  Give me two karate chops!"  BAM BAM!!!

     Karate Chops could be a dangerous entree to order at a restaurant.  Especially if the restaurant is located next to a karate school.  Home delivery of Karate Chops could result in less tips for the driver.  When a customer at a table asks their guest "How are the Karate Chops?"  The guest may reply with "Do you want to try one?"  Bam!
     Karate Chops is a catchy name for this pork chop recipe.  Inventing fun names for food is something that I get a kick out of.  There are times for serious classy polite fine dining and there are times when casual fun food is best.  When it is a holiday weekend or a celebration night of some kind, fun food is a good choice.  Fun food creates a fun mood!
     Karate Chops are Miso Marinated Grilled Pork Chops.  Indonesian black rice is a nice accompaniment and it has a nice deep purple color.  Sticking with the fun theme of this entree, calling the black rice by the name Black Ninja Rice was a natural choice.  The thought occurred to me that the ninjas in the movies usually wear black, so the black rice was given a new name.
     Red chili stir fry vegetables, pickled ginger and wasabi sauce add the finishing touch.  On second thought, the wasabi sauce does not merely add a nice touch.  The wasabi sauce packs one heck of a head kick!
     I had been giving this Karate Chop recipe creation some thought for a couple of weeks.  One of my friendly regular recipe blog readers has a ninja school in Mexico.  He always writes nice compliments and I have given him a few answers to food questions.  I told the ninja school reader that I was going to post a recipe creation called Karate Chops.  The ninja teacher replied by saying "But, we are a ninja school!"  Ce est la vie!  I liked the Karate Chops recipe name, so the Karate Chops name stuck.
     The marinade and the stir fry are easy to make.  I wanted to keep this recipe easy for people to cook, because the Karate Chops name of this entree just might catch on.  The most important thing was to create a Karate Chops entree that would taste great!  This recipe was created with popular asian spicy flavors that are actually comfortable and not too spicy hot.
  
     Miso Marinated Pork Chops:
     Place 2 tablespoons of red miso paste in a mixing bowl.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of thin soy sauce.
     Add 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
     Add 1/4 teaspoon of pure sesame oil.
     Add 1 cup of water.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of sugar.
     Add 1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste.
     Add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic paste.
     Add sea salt and white pepper
     Stir the ingredients together.
     Place two pork chops in the marinade.  (The pork chops should be about 1/2" thick and the bone should be attached.  The chops should weigh about 6 ounces apiece.)
     Flip the pork chops a few times to thoroughly coat them with the miso marinade.
     Marinate the pork chops for 1 hour in a refrigerator.

     Wasabi Sauce:
     Pre-made wasabi mayonnaise in a plastic squirt bottle is available at asian markets and regular grocery stores.  The problem with pre-made wasabi mayonnaise, is that it has very little flavor.  Making wasabi mayonnaise is easy to do. 
     Place 1 teaspoon of  wasabi powder in a small mixing bowl.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of water.
     Stir till the wasabi becomes a paste.
     Add 1/4 teaspoon of soy sauce.
     Add 3 ounces of mayonnaise.
     Stir till the sauce is blended.
     Place the wasabi mayonnaise in a squirt bottle.
     Keep the sauce refrigerated.
     Any extra sauce can be used for other recipes.
  
     Black Ninja Rice:
     Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pot over high heat.
     Add 1/2 cup of black rice.
     Add 1/2 cup of white long grain rice or white jasmine rice.
     Return the liquid to a boil.
     Reduce the temperature to low heat.
     Cover the pot with a lid.
     Simmer and steam the rice, till it becomes fully cooked.
     Set the rice aside and keep it warm on a stove top.
  
     Karate Chops: 
     The pork chops are marked on a grill and then baked till they are fully cooked.  The stir fry can be made while the grilled miso marinated pork chops are in the oven!
     Give the pork chops a head start, before starting the stir fry.  The pork chops do take some time to cook.  The thicker the pork chops, the longer it takes to cook them. 
     Heat a cast iron ribbed grilling pan or a char grill to medium/medium high temperature.
     Remove the pork chops from the miso marinade.
     Brush the grill with a little bit of vegetable oil.
     Place the pork chops on the grill.
     Grill the pork chops for about 1 minute on each side.  Grill each side of the pork chops twice.  Turn the pork chops at a 90º angle each time they are flipped, so the pork chops are marked with a cross-check pattern.
     Place the grilled marked pork chops on a wire screen roasting rack on a roasting pan.
     Roast the pork chops in a 350º oven, till they become fully cooked.
     When the pork chops are almost finished roasting, start the stir fry!
  
     Red Chile Stir Fry Vegetables:
     This stir fry gets it's name from the Korean Coarse Red Serrano Chile Sauce.  Coarse red serrano chile sauce is mildly spicy and it has a nice flavor.
     Be sure to prepare the vegetables ahead of time, before starting to cook the stir fry.  Cut the vegetables so they all cook in the same amount of time.
     Place each of these vegetables in a mixing bowl:
     - 1/3 cup of long slices of carrot
     - 1/3 cup of Chinese style bias sliced celery
     - 2 green onions that are cut into bite size pieces
     - 1/3 cup of onion strips
     - 1/3 cup of bite size green bell pepper pieces.
     - 1/4 cup of sliced mushrooms.
     - 1/4 cup of bite size sliced bamboo shoots.
     - 6 ears of canned baby corn.
     Heat a saute pan or wok over medium high heat.  (Be sure the pan is hot before stir frying!)
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
     Add 1 minced garlic clove.
     Add 1/2 teaspoon of minced ginger.
     Saute the ginger and garlic, till they become aromatic, but not browned.
     Add the stir fry vegetable mixture.
     Toss and stir fry the vegetables, till they become two thirds fully cooked.
     Add 1 pinch of sea salt and white pepper.
     Add 1/4 teaspoon of pure sesame oil.
     Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of Korean Red Serrano Chile sauce .
     Add 1 tablespoon of thin soy sauce.
     Add 1 teaspoon  of sugar.
     Add 1/3 cup of vegetable broth.
     Stir fry and toss the vegetables with the sauce, till excess liquid evaporates and so the vegetables are slightly crisp.
     Remove the pan from the heat.
  
     Karate Chops!:
     Used a small bowl as a mold for the black ninja rice.
     Press the rice evenly into the bowl.
     Invert the bowl onto the middle of a plate.
     Remove the bowl.
     The rice should remain in the shape of the mold!
     Place the red stir fry vegetables on the plate around the rice.
     Place the karate chops on opposite sides of the rice, so they lean against the rice with the bones crossing over the middle of the mound of rice.
     Insert 2 chop sticks between the pork chop bones vertically into the mound of rice.
     Place a small mound of sushi grade sliced pickled ginger on the karate chop bones by the chop sticks.
     Use a squeeze bottle to squirt and paint the karate chops with a little bit of wasabi sauce.
  
     Hi Yahhhhh!!!!   Karate Chops!!!  The Black Shadow Ninja Rice lurks beneath the Karate Chops!  The Red Stir Fry delivers the first kick!
     The description of this Karate Chops entree kind of sounds like a karate movie soundtrack or something!  Be sure to talk at the table with your lips moving out of sync with the words that are spoken, just like a karate translation movie!  Yummy!  ...  Shawna