Xin Chao! That's Vietnamese for hello, and today I have another tasty recipe full of piggy goodness. I learned to make Vietnamese coconut braised pork (Thit Kho Tau) from Thanh (Tang), my daughter's Vietnamese friend.
My family and I met Thanh in Hanoi, Vietnam last December when we traveled to visit my daughter who works there as an English teacher. On our last day Thanh hosted us in her house for an authentic Vietnamese meal, and also a cooking class. This was undoubtedly one of the many highlights of our trip. Thanh was such a gracious hostess and we learned A LOT from her.
Thanh is an enterprising young woman who runs a Maia Travel agency which offers multiple services, among them street food tours and home cooking experiences. I certainly recommend both.
The old fashioned method
Vietnamese people cook the old fashion way, by eyeballing it, or for instance by equating quantities to a common object. All in all, we made four different dishes. Thanh admitted that Vietnamese coconut braised pork is one of her favorite dishes, and I can certainly see why. Given its fabulous rich flavor, you would think that this is a complicated dish, but it really isn't.
Making Vietnamese coconut braised pork is super easy. The key here is to saute the pork until it is golden brown, and then add in the remaining ingredients. This dish is served with whole hard-boiled eggs which Thanh likes to saute in order to give them a golden color before placing them into the dish or you can simmer them in the pan with the pork.
Palm sugar is the key
One of the ingredients in Vietnamese coconut braised pork is palm sugar
, which I bought at the market during my visit. Thanh said that you can also use regular brown sugar as a substitute. I have also read that you can make a mixture of brown sugar and molasses.
We had a great time without a doubt. We all chopped, sliced, diced, stirred, and everything in between. One of the funniest moments of the afternoon was when Thanh's mom returned from the market and saw my husband sweeping the floor. She said to Thanh in Vietnamese: "You need to find a husband like that." Thanh translated and we all laughed.
All things considered, I think the recipe turned out great, at least according to my husband and son. Too bad Thanh is not here to give me her seal of approval.
Here are the visual steps to make Thįt Kho Tàu:
- Gather all your ingredients and have them chopped measured and ready to go.
- Place the 4 eggs in a pan with cold water to cover them and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 6 minutes.
- Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and drop them into an ice bath and set them aside.
- In a large braising pan on medium heat sauté the pork with the shallots, garlic, palm sugar, 5 spice powder and palm sugar. Allow the palm sugar to caramelize slightly. Brown the pork on all sides.
- Add the soy sauce after the pork is browned.
- Add the fish sauce.
- Add the coconut water and the pan will deglaze. Cover and turn down the heat to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Now would be a good time to peel those eggs and make the rice.
- After 25 minutes add the peeled eggs and allow to simmer in the juice for an additional 5 minutes. You can turn the eggs so they brown evenly in the juice. When ready to serve, sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serve with rice and fresh greens on the side. Enjoy!
If you want to check out some authentic Vietnamese recipes I have some to share that you can easily make in your home.
Bun cha: Vietnamese pork meatballs are served with a delicious golden broth, a variety of fresh herbs, greens, and rice noodles.
During the hot summer months a nice cool Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad: Pho Tron is very popular.
You have to finish off your meal with a traditional Vietnamese Egg Coffee or ca phe trung (cà phê trứng) is a Hanoi espresso with a sweet meringue like topping.
Bun Thit Nuong: Vietnamese Grilled Pork Noodles - Tender grilled lemongrass pork is paired with cool rice noodles, herbs, veggies, and a tangy sauce.
Vietnamese Coconut Coffee - This was one of my daughter's favorite summer treats when she lived in Vietnam. Coconut replaces milk in this dish.
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Vietnamese Coconut Braised Pork - Thit Kho Tau
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork belly cut into 1" cubes
- ½ tsp 5 spice powder
- 2 shallots minced
- 3-4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp palm sugar
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp fish sauce
- 11.8 oz coconut water (1 can)
- 4 hard boiled eggs
- cilantro for garnish
- 1 cup rice steamed
Instructions
- To prepare the eggs, place them in a pot with cold water and bring to a boil. Allow the water to boil for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and place the eggs in a container with cold water and ice so they are easy to peel. Set them aside.
- On medium heat saute the pork belly with the shallots, 5 spice powder, garlic and palm sugar, and allow the sugar to caramelize slightly.
- Pour in the soy sauce, fish sauce, and the coconut water. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer for about 30-40 minutes. Place the eggs in the stew for an additional 5 minutes.
- Serve with steamed rice and garnish with chopped cilantro.
Nutrition
Ashley @ Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen
I adore Vietnamese food! Love the mix of pork and coconut here. Looks absolutely delicious!
Analida
Thanks so much Ashley!
J-Mom
This was really delicious. I did end up using pork shoulder roast meat since belly meat is difficult to get where I live. Served it on jasmine rice.
Analida
Hi there! I am so glad you liked it. I have a few more Vietnamese recipes coming down the pipes, so stay tuned! For some reason pork belly is becoming difficult to get and expensive too.
Sasha @ Eat Love Eat
I've not much experience with Vietnamese, this looks tasty!
Analida
Sasha, Vietnamese food is not hard to make. It's all about establishing a balance of flavors. You also need a few things in your kitchen. I will have more Vietnamese recipes in the coming months. Stay tuned.
Abra
I've never made pork belly at home, this dish looks so yummy!
Analida
Thanks! If you can't find pork belly you can use a fatty cut of pork meat.
Chef Dennis
I love Asian food so much! And this Vietnamese Coconut Braised Pork looks really delicious. I'm totally sure my family will love this ,too.
Anna
I fell in love with Vietnamese cuisine when we visited this country couple of years ago. The flavours and ingredients are utterly delicious, and can be prepared relatively quickly. Your braised pork looks very flavoursome, love all the step-by-step photos too!
Lizzy
thanks for breaking down this traditional Vietnamese recipe for us, your instructions make it so simple! I can't wait to try.
Julie
This looks delicious! I know this is an annoying question because you haven't tried it yourself, but do you think the flavors would work as well on a less-fatty cut of pork? My husband doesn't like pork belly, so I'm thinking about trying to adapt it to some heritage pork chops, which are fattier than commercial lean pork chops, but definitely not as much as pork belly. We have so much coconut water I need to use up right now, haha!
Analida
Hi Julie, I have make this with sliced chunks of pork shoulder and pork belly and it turns out great! Boneless chops would work well too. Enjoy!
Aline
Wow! This looks great! I never cooked Vietnamese food before, but I need to make this ASAP - my family will love it!
Jenni LeBaron
This Vietnamese coconut braised pork recipe sounds delicious! I love the use of 5 spice powder and fish sauce in this. Those flavors sound just perfect together!
Shelley
Oh my goodness, this looks just amazing, and I'm so jealous to read about your wonderful trip and personal cooking lesson - how absolutely wonderful! I was so intrigued, reading about this dish, but especially about sauteeing whole hard-boiled eggs - I'd honestly never heard of that before! Thank you for sharing your experiences, and this fabulous recipe! Great post!
Kate
This looks really delicious and not too hard to make so I am dying to try it! I will have to track down some palm sugar 🙂
Marisa F. Stewart
I'm not really familiar with Vietnamese cuisine - it sounds very tasty!! We do eat quite a bit of pork and the way this is prepared certainly sounds very flavorful and satisfying. Discovering new foods is always exciting. Will definitely try out this recipe.
Daniela
Yum this pork sounds so flavorful! And your in process shots make following the recipe so easy :).
Amy
Wow this looks incredible! I love how easy you made this look to put together. I font gave a lot of experience cooking Vietnamese dishes so I appreciate the step-by-step pictures. I can’t wait to give this meal a try!
Ben
Holy moly! That recipe looks amazing. I'm a huge fan of Asian food, but where I live, that means Japanese or Chinese. I have never in my life had any sort of Vietnamese food. Those flavors sound awesome. I'm making this.
Kelly Anthony
Making Vietnamese food has always been a little intimidating to me but your recipe makes it look simple and has me excited to try something new.
Jess
Oh wow! This pork looks and sounds so amazing! I have got to try! Yummy!
Heather
I love all the flavors going on in this dish. And thank you for the substitute on using palm sugar! Can you use a different cut of pork? I’d love to try it!
Analida
Hi Heather, Sure you can use small cubes of pork shoulder for this dish also. Enjoy!
GUNJAN C Dudani
Absolutely amazing. I was wondering if I can substitute pork with chicken. Will it still taste the same?
Analida
I have never made it that way but give it a try. I bet it would be delicious and a little less fatty.
shobee
This recipe is almost similar to our Filipino Adobo minus the vinegar. I want to try it and see if it has some similarities to our Filipino dish, as Asian meals are almost similar to each other.
Tammy
Sounds absolutely delicious!! I want to make this so badly....what a fabulous recipe!
Amanda Mason
Eyeballing ingredients is key for sure! I love how this recipe brought everyone to the kitchen to cook! Great picture and memories above! I've never ventured out to making anything like this so I cant wait to try it!
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness
Okay, so I just ate dinner, but wished I had this instead! This looks like the perfect dinner recipe 🙂
Claire | The Simple, Sweet Life
This sounds melt-in-your-mouth good! And your step-by-step instructions make it sound so easy, too. Can't wait to give it a try!
christine
Made this for my husband tonight and it was amazing and delicious. I cooked the rice in coconut water also and added orange pepper, snow peas and bok choy.
Analida
That sounds fabulous! Thanks for sharing!
Nguyễn
Yout recipe is nearly perfect but i have some suggests:
-We prefer to use normal pot than wok
- It may sound weird but a good thit kho tau dish usually has a cockroach wings color and some shiny patterns from fat. You can get it just by give the dish more time to cook(45-60 minutes)
Analida
Thanks Nguyen! I love those suggestions!
Lamyku
Good recipe, easy to follow and taste delicious
I used pork blade steak and brown sugar instead. I love the recipe using coconut water to make the sauce.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Analida
This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. I even order it at restaurants even though I make it at home! Thanks for the rating!