Vietnamese Braised Pork with Eggs (Thịt kho trứng)
Vietnamese braised pork with egg is known as "thịt kho trứng", traditionally made with pork belly and cooked until tender. In this Thịt Kho recipe, I used an equal mix of belly and shoulder.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork belly with skin is preferred, 907 g
- 2 lbs pork shoulder 907 g
- 1 liter carton coconut water 33.8 oz or about 4 ¼ cups
- 2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 onion diced
- 4 cloves of garlic smashed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- Water
- 8 eggs hard boiled
Instructions
- Rinse the pork and pat dry, then cut into 1”x2” chunks.
- Dice the onion and smash the garlic, set aside.
- Add ¼ cup of sugar to a large pot, add about ½ cup of water to cover the sugar and place over high heat. Let the sugar and water cook until it is caramelized, do not stir.
- When most of the water evaporates and the mixture turns a deep amber color, add the pork to the pot and toss to coat in the caramel sauce.
- Sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper, toss to season.
- Add the diced onion and smashed garlic to the pot, toss around to mix everything with the pork.
- Add coconut water, and more water if needed, so the liquid just cover the surface of the pork.
- Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium and let simmer for at least 1 hour until meat is tender and the liquid reduces to about half.
- Meanwhile, prepare the eggs by bringing water in a smaller pot to a boil, drop the egg in and cook for 10 minutes.
- Remove the egg from boiling water and drop in cold water to cool. When cool to the touch, peel the eggs and set aside.
- When the meat has been cooking for at least 1 hour, check to see if you need to adjust seasoning.
- Add the peeled egg into the pot and submerge them in the braising liquid as much as possible. Reduce heat to low and let cook for another 20 minutes to half an hour, flipping the eggs half way so they are seasoned evenly by the braising liquid and turn a light brown color.
- Serve over rice.
Nutrition
Serving: 357g | Calories: 540kcal
