Vietnamese Caramelized Salty Pork Thit Kho Recipes

CARAMELIZED PORK BELLY (THIT KHO)

Steps:

• Slice pork belly into 1-inch pieces layered with skin, fat, and meat.
• Heat sugar in a large wok or pot over medium heat until it melts and caramelizes into a light brown syrup, about 5 minutes. Add pork and increase heat to high. Cook and stir to render some of the pork fat, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Stir shallots and garlic into the wok. Add fish sauce and black pepper; stir to evenly coat pork. Pour in coconut water and bring to a boil. Add eggs, reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, until pork is tender, about 1 hour.
• Remove wok from the heat and let stand, about 10 minutes. Skim the fat from the surface of the dish.

MICHAEL BAO HUYNH'S VIETNAMESE CARAMELIZED PORK

Steps:

• Cover bottom of a large, heavy skillet with one cup sugar and place over medium low heat. As soon as it melts and turns golden, add pork, raise heat to medium, and stir until coated. (Sugar will become sticky and may harden, but it will re-melt as it cooks, forming a sauce.)
• Stir in remaining sugar, salt, pepper and fish sauce. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Uncover, stir in garlic and oil and lower to simmer to reduce sauce for about 20 minutes.
• Stir in Vidalia onions and cook until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Pork should be caramelized; if not, raise heat and sauté while sauce further reduces. Transfer to serving bowl, and sprinkle with scallion greens.

VIETNAMESE CARAMELIZED SALTY PORK ( THIT KHO)

Steps:

• Wash and cut pork belly into 3/4 inch (cubed)pieces.
• In a dry saucepan, melt sugar on high heat until it becomes golden brown but not candied.
• Immediately, add pork belly pieces, onions, pepper, and garlic. Stir to get a golden color on the meat.
• Add fish sauce and water, deglaze, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes (stirring occasionally) until sauce thickens a little. Add a little more fish sauce and black pepper to taste.
• Serve over white rice.
• Note: Some vietnamese add whole hard boiled eggs (better if you fry the hard boiled eggs in a little oil until golden brown skin) along with the liquids. Adding shrimp is also delicious.

VIETNAMESE CARAMELIZED PORK BELLY (THIT KHO TAU)

Steps:

• Slice pork belly into 1-inch thick (or slightly thicker) pieces. In a bowl, toss the pork with crushed garlic, shallots, salt and pepper. Set aside at room temperature for 10-20 minutes.
• In a small saucepan, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, the sugar will fully dissolve. Lower the heat to medium, continue to simmer. You will see a lot of bubbles on the surface. The mixture will then turn from clear to yellow, and get darker as you simmer it. When it has a honey color, reduce the heat slightly. Keep watching closely, until it has a dark caramel color, turn off the heat and carefully add 1 tablespoon of water. Swirl the saucepan (or stir) to combine and remove it from the stove. Set aside.
• Place a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and add a small amount of cooking oil. Once the oil is hot, add the pork belly, along with all the crushed garlic and shallots, and the caramel sauce. Stir and cook to coat the pork with the caramel sauce and then add fish sauce. Continue to stir and cook.
• Once the outside of the pork is no longer pink, add coconut juice enough to cover the meat. Bring it to a boil and skim off all the foams, then lower to a simmer.
• Cover the pot with the lid slightly askew and simmer until the pork is almost tender to your liking (about 75-80 minutes). You can give everything a stir once in a while for even cooking if you want.
• While braising the pork belly, boil the eggs so that they are just about to reach hard-boiled. Place the eggs in cold water to cool down, and then peel them.
• Once the pork is almost tender, add the eggs (make sure they are surrounded with the braising liquid). Cover and simmer for about 10 more minutes.
• Transfer the caramelized pork belly and eggs along with the sauce to a shallow serving plate. Serve hot with white rice.

VIETNAMESE CARAMELIZED PORK

Steps:

• Place a large heavy skillet or wok over high heat, drizzle the oil into the pan, and pour the sugar over the oil. Cook and stir constantly until the sugar dissolves and turns a light brown color. Be careful, the melted sugar is very hot. Stir in the pork, 2 green onions, chile pepper, black pepper, shallots, garlic, and salt, and toss them in the caramelized sugar until the pork turns golden brown. Drizzle the sesame oil over the pork and vegetables, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer to reduce the juices.
• When the juices have been mostly absorbed, turn the heat back up to high, and cook and stir the pork and vegetables until the sauce has thickened and coated the pork, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of green onion rings.

VIETNAMESE-STYLE CARAMEL PORK

Steps:

• Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok over a high heat and stir-fry the pork in batches until browned all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Turn the heat right down and add the remaining oil, then stir in the shallots, ginger and chilli. Cook over a low heat for a couple of mins until just starting to soften. Add the sugar, fish sauce and 200ml water to the pan and stir everything together. Bring to the boil, stirring, so that the sugar dissolves, then return the pork to the pan. Bubble vigorously for 8-10 mins until the sauce thickens to coat the meat and become glossy. Taste and stir in a little more fish sauce, if needed, along with the chilli sauce. Sprinkle with the spring onions and serve with steamed rice and pak choi.