Thit Kho Vietnamese Caramelized Braised Pork Belly and Eggs

Ingredients:

2 lbs pork belly (or use skin on pork thigh--won't be nearly as soft as pork belly of course. Cut ~2-3 inch pieces.)
juice from 2 young coconut (yields ~4 cups)
4 tbs of fish sauce
fresh cracked pepper
2-3 garlic cloves, gently crushed or thinly sliced
1-2 shallots, thinly sliced
4 whole hard boiled eggs peeled (or more if you like--boil ahead of time)

directions:

We like a very clear sauce so we par boil the pork in some boiling water for about 3-4 min to get rid of the gunk. Dump out the water and rinse the gunk off the pork and the pot. Return to pot and add the coconut juice.

Add the eggs, fish sauce, shallots, and garlic. The liquid should be generous enough to cover both the pork and eggs to caramelize evenly, if not, add a bit more water or additional coconut water if you still have some left. Turn to medium high heat and bring to rolling simmer and cover lid, reducing heat to low. Braise for at least 1 hr--we go to 2.5 hrs even. The natural sugars of the coconut juice and fish sauce will caramelize the pork and eggs. Taste sauce and adjust with additional fish sauce or sugar to taste. Add plenty of fresh cracked pepper just before serving with fresh steaming hot rice and a side of veggies.

Cooks notes: If no young coconut water is available, used canned coconut water. For more complex sauce, try adding 5 spice, star anise, fennel, coriander seeds, or cinnamon in a stainless steel tea strainer. Also, you can cook mustard greens in the sauce as it braises for a great veggie side.