thit heo kho nuoc dua, braised pork in coconut juice

[jeff]

In Vietnam you would use fresh coconut juice, however over here it's not uncommon to use coconut soda in place of the juice.

3 LBS pork shoulder cut into 2" chunks
6 or so eggs soft boiled
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup of fish sauce
2 TBS sugar
2 TBS Vietnamese sweet sauce
6 cups coconut soda
2 cups water
salt to taste, only if needed

Start off by cutting your pork into 2" pieces, heat a pot to med/high heat put the garlic, sugar, fish sauce, sweet sauce, onto the pork then add it to the pot, move the meat around till it's browned on all sides. Once browned, add the 6 cups of coconut soda, and 2 cups of water. turn the heat down to med, cook this for 30 minutes, making a point to skim off the foam on top every so often.

While that's cooking, go ahead and bring another pot with water in it to a boil, add the eggs and soft cook them, should take around 5 minutes or so, once the eggs are cooked, run them under cold water then remove the shells. (NOTE you might want to remove a single egg and try removing the shell to make sure it's cooked enough before cooling them all down) The idea is to have the egg firm enough to hold up with out the shell but still be soft in the middle, although it really isn't a big deal if it's cooked to a hard boiled egg, but the less the better since it will continue to cook in the coconut juice.

After the meat/coconut juice has been cooking for 30 minutes, go ahead and add the eggs (with out shell!) into the pot, move the meat around so the eggs will settle into the sauce. Place a lid on the pot and let everything cook for 90 minutes then remove the lid and cook for another 30 minutes.

Give it a taste, and if needed, add some salt, it may or may not need salt depending on the fish sauce and sweet sauce used. Using the brands shown in the pictures posted, I had to add a bit of salt about 1 tsp worth.

Serve with a side or rice.

[jeff]

...

[jeff]

sweet sauce

[jeff]

The coconut juice that was used.

[*ICE*]

hey jeff i cant find that sweet sauce no where in the market around here, what can i substitute for this?? sugar water lol?

[jeff]

You have everything you need at home, it can be tricky since if you take it too far it will burn and be ruined but thankfully its something you can just throw out and try again.

It really is just sugar and water.

Viet World Kitchen: Caramel Sauce

[*ICE*]

well i bought this Sweet Chilli Sauce and will try to use that instead of the sweet sauce to see if it can make it a little spicy... thanks Jeff.

[jeff]

chances are the sauces are not very close to each other.

either way, it should still come out fine, just not like its meant to.

[*ICE*]

I absolutely hate the fat skin on the meat... what kinda cut should i select in the beginning instead of the pork shoulder? I'm new to the cooking scene so bare with me lol..

P.S i made this stuff yesterday and it was amazing good!! even though i dont have the Sweet Sauce, it was still good...

Extremely easy to make but take about 2 hours to cook lol...

[jeff]

Originally Posted by *ICE*

I absolutely hate the fat skin on the meat... what kinda cut should i select in the beginning instead of the pork shoulder? I'm new to the cooking scene so bare with me lol..

P.S i made this stuff yesterday and it was amazing good!! even though i dont have the Sweet Sauce, it was still good...

Extremely easy to make but take about 2 hours to cook lol...

It's one of those things that really takes very little actual time spent making it, you just leave it be. So it takes awhile but you can watch tv or surf the net while waiting.

The fat is the good part, you have to get use to that =)

You can use any type of meat you want, but as always with longer cooking recipes, the cheaper the meat the better. less fat = more money so just poke around at the difference cuts of pork and find the best trimmed piece, or ask the butcher working at the store to cut you a nice lean pork roast.