Thịt Kho Trứng (Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly & Eggs)

by Jessica Nguyen

 

Vietnamese pork belly and eggs braised in a coconut juice and caramel. One of the most comforting things you could ever eat and also a traditional recipe for Lunar New Year or Tết if you’re Vietnamese like me!

Ingredients

  • 1 kg of Pork Belly
  • 10 Eggs
  • 2 Cans of Asian coconut juice or 1 bottle of coconut water
  • 1 small bunch of spring onions
  • 1 small bunch of coriander
  • 5 tablespoons of sugar
  • 4 tablespoons of Vietnamese fish sauce 
  • 6-8 cloves of garlic

Watch the process

Method

  1. Start by marinating your pork belly the day or night before you intend to eat this dish. To make the marinade, finely chop your garlic and white/light green parts of your spring onions. Add to a bowl with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and pepper. Mix to combine. Instead of finely chopping by hand, feel free to blitz the ingredients in a food processor or blender.
  2. Cut your pork belly into 2-3cm cubes. Make sure you have a sharp knife otherwise it will be hard to cut through the skin.
  3. Place the pork into a bowl with the marinade, and mix around so that its fully coated. Cover with plastic wrap and place in your fridge to marinate overnight.
  4. Prepare your eggs by boiling them for approximately 7 minutes. 
  5. Drain and place into a bowl of iced water, this makes it easier to peel the shells off. Once cooled down, peel the shells off and place into a bowl, covering with plastic wrap and placing into the fridge until the next day. You can do this just before you begin cooking, but I like to do this the night before to get it out of the way, 
  6. Heat a medium to large saucepan and place a tablespoon of water with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Allow it to melt on medium and start to turn into a golden brown caramel. As soon as you see parts of the caramel turning dark brown, start placing and coating pieces of pork belly into the pan with the caramel making sure that each side of the pork is seared nicely.
  7. Once all of the pork is in, keep stirring for a minute to ensure its fully coated, seared and caramelised.
  8. Then pour in your coconut juice, making sure the pork is fully submerged. If you are using coconut water, just add in 1 tablespoon of sugar to get the same level of sweetness as coconut juice.
  9. Allow it to come to the boil and then turn it down on low to slowly simmer for an hour.
  10. Whilst it is cooking, you'll notice that scum and impurities will float to the top. Take a large spoon and gently scoop it out. Do this intermittently until the braising liquid is clear.
  11. After an hour, add in your eggs and continue to cook for another 30 minutes on low to allow the eggs to soak up the liquid.
  12. After 30 minutes, the braising liquid will have reduced down and the eggs will have turned a light brown colour.
  13. Taste the liquid, it should still be a bit sweet so to balance it out i add in a tablespoon or so of fish sauce. It's meant to be sweet but salty and rich in taste.
  14. Serve your pork belly into a shallow dish with fresh chillies and coriander on top. I like to serve it with white rice and some Asian greens on the side.

 

If you want to try more of my Vietnamese Recipes, you can find some of my most popular dishes below; 

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