Thit Kho Tau (Caramelized Braised Pork Belly with Eggs)

When I decided to start a blog, I had no specific point of view and figured I could bake or cook whatever I want but I am finding that recipes I want to develop and write up are from my cultural background. Growing up, my mom made everything from scratch and eyeballed the measurements which makes it difficult to recreate—I don’t want to lose these sentimental dishes. With that said, today, I’ll be sharing how to make caramelized braised pork belly with eggs.

Back in the day, this dish was mainly prepared specially for Vietnamese New Year. For poor farmers, meat was hard to come by and people looked forward to the new year so they could indulge in eating this dish. Fortunately for me, this was a weekly staple in our family and my mom made variations of this dish at least once a week.

I’ll be using pork belly as the source of protein for the more traditional style. Another option utilizes pork riblets separately into individual ribs pieces. Let’s get started!

Ingredients

2 lbs pork belly, cut into 1-inch cubes

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 shallots, minced

2 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp thick soy sauce

2 Tbsp palm sugar

5 star anise, rinsed

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cups Rico Coco Soda

1 1/2 cups water

6 eggs, hard boiled and peeled

Garnishment:

Cilantro

In a bowl, combine the pork belly, garlic, shallot, green onion, fish sauce, soy sauce, thick soy sauce, palm sugar, star anise, and black pepper. Mix well to coat the pork in the marinade. For the best flavour, allow the pork to marinate overnight but at least for 3-4 hour if you want to prepare it the same day.

At this point, you can either braise the meat and eggs on the stove for two hours—the meat for an hour then add the eggs and permit braising for a further hour. Honestly, on occasion, I neglected to paid attention and have charred the dish. Here’s my trick to cutting the cook time down to 45 minute, us an Instant Pot! If you have noticed, it’s my shortcut in a number of my previous postings.

On saute mode, add the oil and onion to fry until golden. Put in the pork belly and sear the meat until browned. Add rest of the marinade liquid, coconut soda, and water to the pot. Switch the Instant Pot over to manual and let it pressure cook on high for 30 minutes then release pressure by venting.

Boil and peel your eggs. I use about six eggs, but you can include as many eggs as you want.

After the pork belly is done cooking, I transfer my pork belly and strain the liquid into a braiser then add the eggs in. Cook on medium heat on the stove for about 15-20 minutes until the eggs caramelized and the sauce have reduced. I skim the surface as it’s reducing to eliminate the layer of fat, this could easily be accomplished once it solidifies. It’s done!

I usually serve the dish over rice with a side of pickled sweet mustard greens or, simply, cucumbers. Don’t forget to garnish with the cilantro.