Vietnamese Braised Pork Ribs and Eggs (Thịt kho trứng)
This Vietnamese braised pork ribs and egg in caramel sauce (Thịt kho trứng) recipe is so easy to make and is such a great comfort food for those weeknights where you want to just stay in. Braised in a sweet and savoury umami-flavoured coconut sauce. The pork ribs are so tender and easily fall off the bone. The boiled eggs absorb all the caramel sauce. Enjoy this over a bed of rice and everyone will beg for more.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork back ribs
- 8 large eggs
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 cans coconut water with pulp 310ml
NƯỚC MÀU Caramel Sauce
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Soak the pork ribs in salt water for 30 minutes. Add the pork ribs to a pot of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. This will draw out the impurities. Rinse in a colander and wash thoroughly.
- Make the nuoc mau caramel sauce. In a medium pot on medium-high heat add the sugar and slowly add the water. One tablespoon at a time while stirring the sugar. Continue to do this until the sugar begins to turn yellow to dark brown. Lift the pot off the stove and continue to stir.
- Add the clean parboiled pork ribs along with the crushed garlic to the pot. Mixing well so the pork ribs are covered in the nuoc mau caramel sauce. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken bouillon powder, fish sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper and mix well. Lastly, add the 2 cans of coconut water with pulp and stir. Turn the heat to high and once it starts to boil turn it down to medium-low add the peeled hard-boiled eggs and simmer for approximately 75 minutes.
- Serve with rice and your choice of vegetables! Enjoy!
Notes
- To achieve a nice tender and flavourful pork rib I do recommend soaking the ribs in salt water for 30 minutes and parboiling for 10 minutes to remove all the impurities.
- Make a big batch of this and store it in a freezer container for those busy weekend meals. It can freeze for up to 3 months. This was one of the meals I made in a large batch during my pregnancy so a hot meal could easily be ready after I gave birth. It stored really well and was super tasty. It was also great for milk production!
- Add real coconut pieces to the pot to braise and adds a nice texture. You can find frozen coconut pieces in your Asian supermarket. Add it in at the same time as the coconut water.
- Flavouring the parboiled pork ribs before adding them to the pot adds more flavour. After you parboil the pork ribs add some salt and sugar and mix it in.
- Searing the pork ribs helps lock in the flavour if you marinade it.
- Braising requires a minimum of 75 minutes. This is to help achieve nice tender pork. If you are making a smaller batch you can reduce the braising to 60 minutes and if you are making more it would require up to 90 minutes of braising.
- Consume this dish the day after actually has a deeper flavour. This generally applies to many Vietnamese dishes where the flavour really develops when the dish is consumed one day after it’s been cooked.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!