This home-style dish typically served in many Vietnamese homes and is especially popular during Lunar New Year celebrations. Chunks of pork and whole eggs are slowly cooked in a sweet and savory broth of shallots, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, and coconut soda. Once it caramelizes and the meat is tender, it’s served with jasmine rice and pickled vegetables.
Whenever I eat Vietnamese braised pork and eggs, it brings back memories of all the family dinners I’ve had with my parents and sisters. Nowadays, I make it often for my own family because it’s an easy one pot recipe that can easily be doubled and makes for great leftovers!
Pork belly is traditionally used, but I prefer using pork shoulder. It’s a leaner cut of meat, but still has enough fat to keep the meat juicy. Sometimes I substitute eggs with quail eggs, but you can also leave it out all together.
I use coconut soda because I love the subtle coconut flavor and sweetness it adds (see my Cambodian Hot Pot, Ya-Hon recipe with coconut soda here). If you don’t have coconut soda you can use coconut juice or water, but you’ll need to adjust the sugar/salt to taste.
To get the deep and beautiful brown hue of this dish, I make a rich and thick caramel cooking sauce (nuoc mau) by heating sugar and oil in a pan. It’s a typical base for most Vietnamese dishes to add a nice brown coloring. Alternatively you can use thick soy sauce to skip this step, but I highly recommend using the caramel cooking sauce instead.
Vietnamese Braised Pork and Eggs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of pork belly or pork shoulder, sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 6-12 chicken or quail eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
- ⅓ cup of fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon of sugar + ½ teaspoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- ¼ cup of minced shallots
- 1 can of coconut soda
- 1 teaspoon of chicken bullion powder (optional)
- 3 cups of water
Directions
- Slice pork into 1 inch or slightly smaller cubes.
- In a large pot, make the nuoc mau (caramel sauce) by heating 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of sugar on medium heat until it starts to caramelize. It will darken from clear to amber. Lower heat and continue to simmer until it reaches a dark caramel color. Be very careful not to burn! Any darker and the caramel sauce will be bitter — it should be discarded and made again.
- Add garlic and shallots to the pot and cook for 1 minute.
- Bring the heat up to medium high and stir in the pork to coat it in the caramel sauce.
- Add fish sauce and stir until the pork is browned on all sides.
- Add coconut soda and water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam and scum and discard, then lower to simmer.
- Add the eggs, remaining sugar, and chicken bullion powder. Cover the pot with a lid slightly askew and simmer until the pork is tender (60-90 minutes).
I hope you enjoy one of my favorite comfort foods!
