If there's one thing I realized moving away from home (home being San Jose) and to Westwood, is how much I miss Vietnamese food. I think I totally took it for granted growing up because my parents would always make it -and kids being kids, we always want what we can't have. I'm pretty sure I begged my mom to take me to McDonald's like 2x a week in high school. But now that I'm here in West LA, -where good, homemade, traditional vietnamese food is scarce... I crave for it ALL THE TIME and I seriously can't wait to go back home to get my next pho fix.
Making vietnamese food, however, actually also takes a lot of time, which I really don't have. Most of the dishes need to be braised or cooked overnight to get all the natural juices and flavoring out. But thanks to my handy-dandy slow cooker, I was able to make this caramelized pork dish all while I was at school or studying! It's also really easy, requiring minimal ingredients, all of which you probably already have stocked in your pantries.
For me, I pretty much added the sugar and all that into the crockpot right before I left to class in the morning so it could caramelize during that time and then after class, I came home to add the pork in. I left for another 3 hrs to study and came back with the meat all tender and ready to eat. So it was super convenient for me and I hope it will be for you too. ENJOY :)
Here's what you'll need:
Pork leg/thigh (cut into 1.5 inch pieces)
5 eggs (hardboiled)
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 can Coco rita (coconut soda)
--- you can use coconut juice too
4 tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 yellow onion (sliced)
4 cloves garlic (sliced)
Green onions to garnish
Add in the coco rita, sugar, yellow onions and garlic into the crockpot. Set on low and allow it to caramelize for about 5-6 hrs or on high for about 3-4 hrs. Make sure that the solution turns brown before adding anything else!
When browned, add in the pork, fish sauce and soy sauce into the crockpot. Make sure you mix it up really well! Cook for another 3 hrs on low and then add in the eggs and green onions about an hr before serving and thats it!
Happy hump day,
Theresa
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