Stewed Pork Belly in Coconut Water

I heard about this Vietnamese dish and searched for the recipe. But what made me hesitate trying this Viet recipe was that it looked very salty and sweet. I decided to come up with my version of Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Belly (thịt kho tàu).

Some say that it’s like tau yu bak but amazingly, this dish has no presence of soy sauce and cooked purely in coconut water. It’s such an easy recipe and tastes splendid.

Perfect with hot rice.

Literally a 3-step recipe, it can be done in about an hour or so. This is a make ahead recipe and can be reheated before mealtime.

Ingredients (this recipe serves 2-3)

* Half kg pork belly, cut in 1 inch/2.5 cm cubes

* 2 cloves garlic crushed

* 2 shallots, roughly cut

* 2 hard boiled eggs (you can put up to 4 hard boiled eggs)

* 2 tabsp fish sauce

* 2 tabsp brown sugar

* 500ml coconut water (I use the one in a packet for convenience, but you can use fresh coconut water if it is available to you)

* 1-2 chili padi (I used 4 green chili padi)

* Oil for frying

Method

1. Marinate pork cubes in fish sauce and brown sugar for about an hour.

2. In a pot, heat up a tabsp oil, fry shallots and garlic till fragrant. Add marinated pork and brown the pork cubes for about 3-4 minutes.

3. Pour in coconut water, put in chili padi and hard boiled eggs, stew over low fire for about 1 hour or until pork is tender.