Vietnamese Braised Pork With Eggs
It’s known that meat contains various important nutrients which are needed by human’s bodies. It provides us with energy and helps to carry out vital metabolic functions. Meat is one of the most popular foods in the world. There are a vast of methods to cook meat depending on hobbies. In Vietnam, we have the famous spring roll, which is made from meat and other ingredients. We cook best fillings to make Banh Mi – one of the most delicious sandwich in the world from meat. Other delicious dishes from meat are stir-fried meat with veggies, simmered meat, simmered meat with coconut meat… In this post, I would like to introduce traditional Vietnamese Braised Pork With Eggs (Thit Kho Tau), which is the most popular dishes to eat at home in Vietnam. The process of making Thit Kho Tau will be shared on the following.
At first, we have to buy ingredients: a coconut, spices (salt, garlic, sugar, pepper, red chili), fish sauce, caramel (nuoc mau), eggs (duck eggs are better) and pork. You can choose lean pork, pork belly, pork leg or all of them. The caramel sauce is a must for this dish to provide color and flavor to the pork. If you couldn’t find it at the market, just cook sugar and a little water in a pan for a while until the liquid turns brown and a little gelatinous.
The pork must be washed carefully before being cut into medium sized square pieces and marinated with spices, fish sauce, and caramel. After a few hours, the pork meat should be cooked in a big pot with coconut water. The eggs must be boiled, peeled and put into the pot about 1 hour before the pork is cooked well. When it’s ready, the eggs absorb the caramel flavors, the fats and collagens are tender. The caramel sauce infuses the eggs and pork with a deeply rich and slightly sweet flavor. The coconut water will mostly cook off and leave a slight sweetness to the pork.
The Braised Pork is ready when the eggs absorb the caramel flavors, the fats and collagens are tender and the coconut water almost cooks off – Photo by Scooter Saigon Tour
It isn’t hard to cook Vietnamese Braised Pork With Eggs but patience is required. No oil is added with the cooking technique so that it’s lower in fat in comparison to frying or sauteing. The nutrients aren’t leached out into the water like boiling. So that Braised Pork is very healthy.
The food is usually served with steamed rice and cucumber, Vietnamese herbs (coriander, basil, salad…) or pickles from daikon, small onion, carrot. It’s perfect to enjoy them on a rainy day with family. Braised pork in caramel with eggs is a must dish in the tray of foods at Tet festival. Vietnamese people who are far from home for business or studying always want to come back home to enjoy a home meal with the braised pork.
Are you exciting at delicious Vietnamese foods on your Ho Chi Minh trip? Join our Saigon Food Tour on which we serve you the best foods in the city.
Saigon Foodie Tour – Ho Chi Minh Food Tour.
