Recipe: Perfect Vietnamese Caramelized Pork

Vietnamese Caramelized Pork. Meet your new favourite pork mince recipe - Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls! It's the quick and easy version of Vietnamese Caramel Pork, a famous Vietnamese food speciality! Reviews for: Photos of Vietnamese Caramelized Pork.

Sugar and fish sauce caramelized pork belly tossed with spaghetti. Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner. Pork belly: without a doubt, it's a love it or hate it thing and I'm defiantly on the love it side. You can cook Vietnamese Caramelized Pork using 9 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Vietnamese Caramelized Pork

1. Prepare 2-2.5 pounds of pork country ribs/ shoulder/butt/ picnic shoulder, cut into 1.5 to 2 inch cubes.
2. It's 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic (3 to 4 cloves).
3. You need 1/4-1/3 cup of tightly packed brown sugar depending on how sweet you like your food (dark preferable, light ok).
4. You need 1/8 cup of fish sauce.
5. Prepare 1 of green onion, chopped.
6. It's 1 1/2 cups of sliced onion (about 1 small).
7. It's 3/4 cup of water.
8. It's 2 Tablespoons of soy sauce.
9. Prepare 2 Tablespoons of vinegar (Distilled white, apple cider, or even red or white wine will work).

Vietnamese Caramelized Pork , one of my favorite ground pork recipes, is made in a skillet, and combines the Vietnamese flavors of fish sauce and pepper, garlic and lemon grass, plus a bit of sugar. Vietnamese Caramelized Pork has been a longtime favorite choice when dining at Vietnamese restaurants and as a take-out dish. Sweet and salty braised pork with eggs. If you can't find coconut soda, you can use coconut water instead.

Vietnamese Caramelized Pork step by step

1. In a large bowl, combine the pork with the garlic, brown sugar, fish sauce and green onion. Mix thoroughly to ensure even distribution of the seasonings. The best way to do it is just to get in there with your hands and massage the pig. Time permitting, let the pork marinate for 20 minutes or so to allow the seasoning to penetrate the meat..
2. In deep skillet or pot, heat 2 Tablespoons of a neutral flavored oil over medium high heat and sear the pork, 4 or 5 pieces at a time (don't want to crowd the cooking surface) until the fatty bits get a rich, dark, caramel color, 2 to 2.5 minutes per side. This is one of those rare instances in which you could actually put the seared pork back into the bowl with the uncooked pork without worrying about contamination because all of it is going back into the pot to cook for a long time..
3. After the pork is seared, add the onions into the pot and saute until they just begin to become translucent, about 2 minutes. This quick saute develops the flavor of the onion and helps it hold some shape during the long simmer..
4. Put the pork back in the pot, and increase the heat to medium high. Add the water, soy sauce and vinegar, stir to ensure they get evenly distributed, and bring to a gentle boil (i.e., the liquid is bubbling gently and consistently but not so actively that it splatters)..
5. Reduce the heat to medium low and cover the pot. Simmer 45 to 50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so to ensure that the meat gets evenly seasoned and cooked. Because heat accumulates, watch for signs that it's getting too high (the aforementioned splattery bubbling) and adjust back down if that happens. At this point, the meat should be fork tender. If not, cover and simmer another 5 minutes or so..
6. Once the meat is fork tender, uncover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer another 15 minutes to reduce, thicken and further caramelize the braising liquid. Stir every 5 minutes to further ensure even seasoning and cooking. If you refrigerate the leftovers, you'll find that the braising liquid becomes gelatinous due to the collagen from the pork. Just give it a warming on the stove or a zap in the microwave, and it's back to its saucy goodness in no time. Enjoy!.

You can also mix in or sub pork shoulder for a leaner version. This recipe is incredibly easy to make! Watch as I show you how with just THREE simple ingredients. Vietnamese caramelized pork is made with small chunks of pork belly slowly braised in fish sauce and caramel syrup. Sometimes pork shoulder is used for a leaner version.