One of my favorite cookbooks is Love and Olive Oil‘s Breakfast for Dinner. (I did a post highlighting their Huevos Rancheros Tacos a while back.) So it’s probably not surprising that I make a few recipes from this cookbook on a regular basis. One that I love to make in particular is their version of the Hawaiian dish Loco Moco.
Typical Loco Moco is usually made with white rice, topped with a hamburger patty (or spam), a fried egg, and brown gravy. Love and Olive Oil’s version substitutes coconut sticky rice for the white rice, uses ground pork instead of the hamburger patty, and finishes the dish off with a sweet-spicy-salty soy sauce reduction rather than brown gravy.
I decided to alter their recipe slightly to give it a local spin; this version is topped with pork roll (or Taylor ham) instead of the ground pork, and this recipe for New Jersey-style Loco Moco was born!
Pork Roll is originally from Trenton, New Jersey (hence the name of this post), but can also be found in parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The pork product is thinly sliced and pan fried and is a staple in most breakfast places in the area.
adapted from Love and Olive Oil’s Loco Moco Recipe
Ingredients:
Coconut Rice:
- 2 cups white sticky rice
- 1 cup coconut milk
Soy Reduction:
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (or low sodium coconut aminos to make gluten free)
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon sriracha
Toppings:
- 4 slices pork roll
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- ground pepper, to taste
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 4 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh cilantro
Note: White sticky rice is sold as sweet rice and can be found at specialty grocers and Asian food stores. I was able to find it at Wegman’s.
