Caramelized Braised Pork

Actually I made this dish couple days ago, I decided to upload it right after I finish my finals. But the thing is, everytime I open my laptop, I check my blog and realize that it’s been quite a long time since my last post with recipes and pictures, on the other side, I just can’t resist to publish immediately my dish, it’s such a pain watching everyday all the amazing posts of everyone and not sharing anything (trust me, I had hard time dealing with this problem, I can’t even count how many times I click “New post” to write this post, then close it, then reopen, and close to study ). 

Finally here it is, the full post with pictures, recipe in details, so back to the dish, Caramelized Braised Pork is an usual Vietnamese dish that I had almost every week (of course my time at home, couple months ago ^^), especially when winter comes. But I have to admit, this is the first time I’ve made this dish. Yes, I’ve watched my grandma, my mom and my auntie cook it hundreds times, I know the method but never try, just because they make it so good and me, I always want to try new things. Well, still a little bit embarrassing anyway :”> So in this post, you can find my family’s recipe, maybe you have different ones, feel free to share them, I’d love to see how you did your own Caramelized Braised Pork and will definitely give them a try !!!

Ingredients (serves: 10-12)

1. 1,2 kg pork belly

2. 6 tbs granulated white sugar

3. Fish sauce

4. Pepper

5. Fresh water

Method:

1. Cut the pork belly into small chunks, you can see the pictures below to see exactly how I cut mine. I always like to use the pork belly that doesn’t contain much fat, trust me, you don’t want your Caramelized Braised Pork to have a super thick and fatty surface, so just keep everything simple, fresh and…enough ^^

Before cutting

After cutting and ready for the next step

2. In a mixing bowl (or a big box), mix the pork chunks with 6-7 tbs of fish sauce and 1 1/2 tsp pepper until combined. Set aside for at least 15 minutes so the pork will be amazingly flavorful.

3. Meanwhile, heat a pot over medium high heat, line the bottom with sugar. When the sugar starts melting, put in 2 tbs fresh water, reduce the heat and let the sugar caramelize until it has a beautiful dark brown color and a lightly thick structure. Add the pork, constantly stir until the pork is coated.

4. Continue stirring in 7-10′ until the pork is cooked. Don’t skip this step because it will keep the pork’s flavor and make sure that it won’t fade away after adding the water. Pour in fresh water until the pork is covered as you can see in the picture below.

5. Reduce the heat, cover the pot with a lid and simmer 25-30′ until the water reduces by 2/3, becomes a little bit thick and has a nice brown color. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Turn off the heat. 

6. Transfer to a deep serving dish, serve with hot rice.

Good luck with this simple and flavorful dish everyone,

See you in the next post,

Love, Trang Quynh

About these ads