[Vietnamese Recipes] Braised Pork And Eggs - Thịt Kho Trứng

This home-style dish typically served in many Vietnamese homes and is especially popular during Lunar New Year celebrations. Chunks of pork and whole eggs are slowly cooked in a sweet and savory broth of shallots, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and coconut soda. Once it caramelizes and the meat is tender, it’s served with jasmine rice and pickled vegetables.

Whenever I eat Vietnamese braised pork and eggs, it brings back memories of all the family dinners I’ve had with my parents and sisters. Nowadays, I make it often for my own family because it’s an easy one pot recipe that can easily be doubled and makes for great leftovers!

Pork belly is traditionally used, but I prefer using pork shoulder. It’s a leaner cut of meat, but still has enough fat to keep the meat juicy. Sometimes I substitute eggs with quail eggs, but you can also leave it out all together.

I use coconut soda because I love the subtle coconut flavor and sweetness it adds (see my Cambodian Hot Pot, Ya-Hon recipe with coconut soda here). If you don’t have coconut soda you can use coconut juice or water, but you’ll need to adjust the sugar/salt to taste.

The brands I use for fish sauce, chicken bouillon, and coconut soda.

To get the deep and beautiful brown hue of this dish, I make a rich and thick caramel cooking sauce (nuoc mau) by heating sugar and oil in a pan. It’s a typical base for most Vietnamese dishes to add a nice brown coloring. Alternatively you can use thick soy sauce to skip this step, but I highly recommend using the caramel cooking sauce instead.

The caramel cooking sauce will turn from amber to dark caramel.

VIETNAMESE BRAISED PORK AND EGGS

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs of pork belly or pork shoulder, sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 6-12 chicken or quail eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
• ⅓ cup of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sugar + ½ teaspoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• ¼ cup of minced shallots
• 1 can of coconut soda
• 1 teaspoon of chicken bullion powder (optional)
• 3 cups of water

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice pork into 1 inch or slightly smaller cubes. 
2. In a large pot, make the nuoc mau (caramel sauce) by heating 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of sugar on medium heat until it starts to caramelize. It will darken from clear to amber. Lower heat and continue to simmer until it reaches a dark caramel color. Be very careful not to burn! Any darker and the caramel sauce will be bitter — it should be discarded and made again.
3. Add garlic and shallots to the pot and cook for 1 minute.
4. Bring the heat up to medium high and stir in the pork to coat it in the caramel sauce.
5. Add fish sauce and stir until the pork is browned on all sides.
6. Add coconut soda and water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam and scum and discard, then lower to simmer.
7. Add the eggs, remaining sugar, and chicken bullion powder. Cover the pot with a lid slightly askew and simmer until the pork is tender (60-90 minutes).

I hope you enjoy one of my favorite comfort foods!

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Annledo.com. Thanks so much!