Back to Recipes

Grilled Pork Chop Rice (Com Suon)

Com suon is the lunchtime hero of Vietnam — a smoky, lemongrass-marinated pork chop grilled until the edges char and caramelise, served over rice with fresh tomato, cucumber and a little bowl of nuoc cham for drizzling.

The marinade does all the heavy lifting: fish sauce, garlic, lemongrass, honey and a splash of oil turn an everyday pork chop into something sticky, savoury and slightly sweet, with that unmistakable charred edge.

At home, a barbecue or a screaming-hot chargrill pan gets you most of the way to street-stall flavour. Marinate in the morning, grill at night, and dinner is done in minutes.

Servings
4
Prep Time
20
mins
Cook Time
15
mins
Ingredients
14
Total Time
35
mins

Pantry bits

Fish Sauce
Fish Sauce
Soy Sauce
Soy Sauce
Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)
Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)

Ingredients

  • 4 pork loin chops (about 200g each), fat left on
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 eschalots (French shallots), finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 cups cooked jasmine rice, to serve
  • 1 tomato, sliced
  • 1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced
  • 2 spring onions, finely sliced
  • 125ml nuoc cham dipping sauce, to serve

Instructions

  1. Lightly pound the pork chops with a rolling pin or meat mallet to an even 1.5cm thickness — this helps them cook quickly without drying out.
  2. Mix the lemongrass, garlic, eschalots, fish sauce, honey, soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of the oil and the pepper in a large bowl. Add the chops, turn to coat, and marinate for at least 30 minutes (or overnight in the fridge).
  3. Heat a barbecue or chargrill pan over high heat and brush with the remaining oil.
  4. Grill the chops for 3-4 minutes each side, until charred at the edges and just cooked through. Don't crowd the pan — cook in two batches if needed.
  5. Rest the pork for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, warm the spring onions in a small pan with a splash of oil for 30 seconds to make a quick spring onion oil.
  6. Pile rice onto plates, top with the pork chops and spoon over the spring onion oil.
  7. Serve with sliced tomato and cucumber on the side, and the nuoc cham for drizzling over everything.

Other recipes

Ants Climbing a Tree
Ants Climbing a Tree
Sambal Fried Egg Rice (Nasi Telur)
Sambal Fried Egg Rice (Nasi Telur)
Nuoc Cham Chicken Rice Bowl
Nuoc Cham Chicken Rice Bowl

Never miss a recipe

Join thousands of subscribers and get our best recipes delivered to direct to your inbox!

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.