Featured on Tastemade: Dad’s Vietnamese Slow-Braised Pork Belly aka Thit Kho Tau

This  is one of my favorite comfort foods, slow-braised Vietnamese pork belly. It's also a staple dish during Lunar New Year and  symbolizes love and family affection. It's savory, sweet and melt in your mouth tender!  

You gotta  to try this!

Vietnamese slow-braised pork belly and eggs aka Thit Kho Tau. It's an ultimate comfort food that is equally savory, salty, and somewhat sweet.  Thit Kho Tau is a quintessential Vietnamese dish that is simply seasoned with a little fish sauce, soy sauce and coconut juice.

This Southern Vietnamese home-style dish is typically prepared for the Tet Holiday as a sign of love and family affection. There's a Vietnamese saying that goes, "Seeing Thit kho tau is seeing Tet."

As a kid, my favorite was pairing the silky soft pork belly skin with a heaping spoon of hot jasmine rice paired with some crunchy sour pickled mustard greens.

The key is in to caramelise your sugar so your pork has a nice golden color & use a premium fish sauce for ultimate umami flavor.

Happy Lunar New Year aka Chúc mừng năm mới in Vietnamese.  It's the year of the Cat which according to the Vietnamese zodiac symbolizes wealth, prosperity, and cleverness.



INGREDIENTS

2 lb pork belly (cut into 1.5 inch (squares)
1/2 pot of water with 1 tbs vinegar, 1 tbs salt (for parboiling)

2 tbs oil
1 tbsp garlic (about 2 garlic cloves minced)
1 tbsp shallot (minced)


1.5 tbsp palm sugar (or sub with brown sugar)
1 can coconut juice (or Coco Rico)

1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 c fish sauce
2 tbs Maggi Seasoning
1 cup light soy sauce
~ 2-3 cups water

9 hard boiled eggs

2-3 red Thai chili peppers

Garnish:
Scallion slices
Cilantro sprigs


PREPARATION
1. Par boil pork for about 5 min with water, salt, and vinegar and let stand 10 min, then rinse and strain.
2. Over medium heat melt sugar with about 1 tbs coconut water and constantly stir until caramelized. Add 1 tbs of coconut water as needed to keep sugar from burning.
3. Add pork belly and coat with caramel sauce until evenly coated.
4. In separate sauce pan, saute onions and garlic with a little oil until aromatic and soft, then add to pork belly pot.  
4. Add cocount water and enough water to just cover the pork, turn high to a boil.  Add low sodium soy sauce, fish sauce, maggi seasoning, and some black pepper.
5. Skim impurities as needed, add peeled boiled eggs, leave lid partially on to vent and let simmer.
6. After 1.5-2 hours the pork belly should be tender, pork belly skin should also be very soft and tender (not chewy and I like it when it basically melts in your mouth) and the eggs should turn in color. If it hasn't reached this tender point yet, keep pot on low simmer (without lid) until you have a tender/soft pork belly and skin and so the sauce thickens up some.
10. Scoop off a majority of the pork fat on top of the broth.
11. After 1 to 1.5 hours add the eggs in and let simmer for another 1/2 hour or so until pork is done.
12. In last 15 minutes of cooking, add red thai chili peppers (whole) for a little color and heat. Crack in a little black pepper. Taste, and add fish sauce or salt for a little more salt, add a little more coconut water or palm sugar for added sweetness.
13. Upon serving, garnish with a little scallion and cilantro for a pop of green color and texture.