Thit Heo Kho Trung - Pork and Eggs Braised in Caramel Sauce

When I was growing up, not a week went by when my mom did not make a pot of Thit Kho for lunch. But i'm sure Thit Kho is a weekly regular in most Vietnamese household. Because it is easy and cheap to make, Thit Kho is categorized as "com binh dan" or meal of the commoners. In Vietnam during lunch time, you can find many stand that sells meal for the working person which includes Thit Kho.

Thit Kho is made by braising chunks up fatty pork such as pork belly in a caramel sauce made of caramelized sugar and fish sauce. The pork is braised in the sauce until it becomes so tender you can cut it with your chopsticks. Since I do not always have access to pork belly, I often use Boston pork butt instead. I suggest using any pork cut that has some fat because fat is flavor.

As much as I love eating tender and fatty pieces of pork, my favorite part is the egg. I eat my Thit Kho Trung a certain way since I was a little girl. I break the egg in half and take out the yolk and mix the yolk bits into the rice. I then drizzle a lot of the caramel sauce on top and mix everything together. My favorite part is the egg whites so I always eat that last. Some things just can never change, and i'm OK with that!

Thit kho is often link to the Lunar New Year celebration 'Tet'. Every year our family welcome the new year with a big pot of braised pork and egg along with pickled bean sprouts. I especially love to at thit kho with rice paper rolls and dipped the delicious caramel sauce we cook the pork and egg in!

Ingredients

2 lbs of Boston pork butt

1 shallot finely minced

sugar

fish sauce

mushroom seasoning

black pepper

onion powder

eggs

1 can of Coco Rico

1. Cut pork into 1/2-1 inch cubes.

2. Marinade pork with shallots, 2 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of mushroom seasoning, a couple pinch of black pepper, and a couple dash of onion powder. Let pork marinade in the fridge for at least an hour.

3. Heat up a pot on medium heat.

4. Once the pot is hot, add 2 tablespoon of sugar. Let the sugar melt and caramelized into a rich caramel color.

5. Add all the content of the marinaded pork cubes.

6. Mix pork into the caramel sauce, make sure every pork pieces is coated with the sauce.

7. Once the sauce has cooked into the outside of the pork pieces, pour enough of the Coco Rico into the pot to cover most of the pork. Let pork braised in sauce on medium heat.

8. At this point you can begin preparing your eggs. Boil as much eggs as you would like or fit in the pot. I try to under cook the eggs so it won't over cook when I add it to the pork. So cook it to the point where the egg whites are firm but the yolk is still runny. Cooking time will depend on however many eggs you'd like.

9. Once the eggs are prepared, peel and then add to the pork.

10. Add one additional tablespoon of fish sauce to the pot and then continue to cook the pork and eggs until the caramel sauce has reduced and thicken.

11. Before serving, sprinkle more black pepper on top.

Enjoy!