Fish Sauce Pork Chops

Start with the som tam – this can be made in advance (then chilled) up to 3 hrs before serving. Just bring to room temperature for 30 mins before eating.

Chop the pineapple chunks into bite-sized pieces, then chop the cucumber into similar sized pieces. Tip both into a bowl.

Finely chop the garlic and chilli and scrape into a small bowl. Halve and squeeze in the juice of 1 lime and spoon in the fish sauce and sugar. Stir everything together and adjust to your taste – add more lime juice, sugar or fish sauce, if you like. It should be a balance of salty, sweet, sour and funky. Pour over the pineapple and cucumber and mix well. Set aside, or chill if eating later.

Remove any rind from both pork chops, then use a small, sharp knife to lightly score the fat, ½cm deep, in a diagonal pattern along the fat. Season really well.

Slice the ginger, bash the garlic cloves and get all the other ingredients ready to go.

Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and drizzle the pork chops with a little oil. Once hot, put the pork chops into the pan, fat-side down, using tongs to hold them upright in the pan. Fry for 1-2 mins until golden and crisping, then lay onto their sides and fry for 2-3 mins (depending on how chunky they are), then flip and cook for another 2-3 mins. Transfer to a plate.

Add the ginger slices and smashed garlic to the pan and toss in the pork fat for 1 min, then pour in the chicken stock, spoon in the sugar and fish sauce, then halve and squeeze in the juice of both limes. Turn the heat to medium and stir and bubble together for 2-4 mins until thickened.

Put the pork chops back into the pan, along with any juices from the plate and toss and turn in the sauce for 1 min until well coated and glazed. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to rest for 5 mins.

Finely chop the peanuts and roughly chop the coriander, then add both to the som tam.

Move the pork chops onto a board and remove the bones, then thickly slice. Divide the som tam between plates, then lay the sliced pork on top. Spoon over the glaze and serve with cooked white rice and extra peanuts and coriander.