Pork Chops with Asian Pineapple Salsa

(From “Fresh, Fabulous, Fast”, a Weight Watchers Points Plus cookbook)

Serves 4

4 (4 ounces each) boneless center-cut loin pork chops, trimmed*

½ t. salt

¼ t. black pepper

1 cup fresh pineapple or canned unsweetened pineapple chunks, drained

1 shallot, minced

1 T. Asian fish sauce

1 t. brown sugar

¼ c. packed fresh cilantro leaves

Pinch of red pepper flakes, or a few dashes of hot sauce

1 8.8 oz package pre-cooked brown rice (about 1 ¾ cups)

To make the salsa, place the pineapple, shallot, fish sauce, brown sugar, cilantro and pepper flakes (or hot sauce) in a food processor and pulse 2-3 times, just until coarsely chopped.  Taste and adjust seasoning (mine needed more hot sauce).

The chops I used were very thin.  After seasoning them, I sautéed them 3 minutes per side, or they could have been grilled briefly.  Sliced pork tenderloin would work well, too (4 oz per serving if you are following this as a WW recipe).

If you aren’t making your own rice (I used red quinoa, instead), heat the pre-cooked rice according to package directions. Serve the pork on the rice, topped with the salsa.

Makes 4 WW servings: 1 pork chop, scant ½ c. rice, and ¼ c. salsa, 7 points plus per serving.

*The pineapple salsa would be delicious on fish or chicken. or grilled pork kebabs  (I think a 4 oz swap of either of these proteins would result in the same points value.)

I used canned pineapple; the salsa was great. Asian fish sauce is common in Thai cooking, and I can’t think of a reasonable substitute as it has a unique flavor. Find it in the Asian sections of most well-stocked grocery stores.