peace in my pans: Thịt Kho Tàu (Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Braised in Coconut Juice w/ Star Anise)

Growing up, my mother cooked this dish at least once a week but we ended up eating it for the next 2-3 days. The truth with all braises is that the longer you cook it, the better it tastes - so the same fate falls on this dish. It's also a must make and have dish on new year's day (Tết) so be sure to visit your Vietnamese friend on Tết to guarantee your meal!

The only downside to this dish is that it takes a long time to cook. Think 3+ hours. I mean, you can attempt to eat it after 1 or 2 hours but it's just not as good and the texture of the meat will be off. The traditional cut is pork shoulder with fat intact but for all those health conscious folks out there, you can trim the fat but it just won't be the same. So here's the recipe that will feed a family of 4, so again, feel free to adjust.

4 cups of water
2 lbs of pork shoulder
5 hard boiled eggs
1 can of coconut juice* w/ pieces (optional - just coconut juice would be fine, too)
1/2 cup of fish sauce**
3 T of sugar
1 T of dried star anise seeds

*I recommend coconut juice and not coconut soda since there is no coconut juice in coconut soda...
** I also don't add additional salt when I'm cooking w/ fish sauce (I find it contains enough sodium but add more or less fish sauce/salt according to your preference but keep in mind that the longer it braises the saltier it gets)

In a large pot, add 4 cups of water and turn to low heat (3-4)

Then add your can of coconut juice. I like this brand because it comes w/ bits of fresh coconut pieces.

Now add your fish sauce, 2 T of sugar, and star anise. Allow the broth to heat up while you prepare the other ingredients.

In another pot, hard boil your eggs.

Here's my pork shoulder. Make sure you rinse your meat really, really well - unless you know it is super fresh, if not, RINSE WELL! The failure to rinse meat well results in dark and cloudy broth.

I simply slice it into 1 inch thick pieces first then I flip them over and slice it again down the middle.

See...

Add 1 T of sugar and about 1 T of fish sauce to the meat - combine

Now carefully add the meat to the broth. The broth doesn't need to boil before you do so.

Add your hard boiled eggs to the broth.

Add a tsp of this to your broth to enhance the color. Don't worry - it's all real ingredients.

Your pot should look something like this now and smells heavenly. Cook it on low heat and covered for the next 3+ hours.

After about 1.5 hours - I have a pot that looks like this...

Not bad, not bad.

And after 3+ hours, THIS! You can serve this with fresh greens that you can dip in the broth and serve with rice. Soo delicious! The meat is tender and flavorful.