# Vietnamese Quick Braised Pork Belly



## EvillyChic (Apr 29, 2012)

Hi everyone, 

I am Rose, a Vietnamese student from Finland.

Today, I want to share a Vietnamese dish that is so easy to make, yet super  tasty, and almost foolproof: my version of (Southern) Vietnamese Quick  Braised Pork Belly in Fish Sauce. (Fear not the fishy smell of the  Vietnamese traditional fish sauce; it’s perfectly complimented with this  dish thanks to the roasted garlic and black pepper)

*Ingredients*


500g of pork belly with skin still on
2 tbsp. fish sauce
3 tbsp. granulated white sugar
1 tbsp. water
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
½ tsp. grounded black pepper (freshly grounded is best)
 *Instructions*

*Step 1:* Wash the belly with salty water and dry it with kitchen towel. Slide pork belly into thin rectangular vertically.

*Step 2:* Get a clean small bowl and mix fish sauce + sugar + water together. It does not need to be completely dissolved.

*Step 3:* Place the slices of pork belly on a small non-stick frying pan like this.







*Step 4:* Put the pan onto the stove, turn  the heat on high. Without adding any excess oil. Leave the pan there for  3 minutes. After 3 minutes, you can see the steam coming out from your  pan, that’s totally normal and not a sign of burning.


*Step 5:* Now you can starting hearing the  fat coming out of the pork belly sizzling on the pan. Let the pan sit on  heated stove for 3 more minutes, until the under of the belly slides  start to turn golden. Flip all over, like this.

*Step 6:* Wait for 5 more minutes until the  other sides turn golden too. Put all the garlic in; give it another stir  until the garlic start to be aromatic.
 Add chopped garlic

*Step 7:* Then pour all the fish sauce mixture into the pan.

 Give it a quick and even stir. At first you can see the water in the  fish sauce mix boil and evaporate very quickly while the sugar start to  caramelize.

*Step 8:* Wait for 5 more minutes or more  with flipping the pork belly from side to side for even browning, until  you achieve this: golden brown shiny slices of pork belly slices. The  water should almost all evaporated, just a little sauce left, enough to  coat the outside of every slices.








*Step 9:* Sprinkle grounded black pepper on top. You  can now enjoy the most wonderful aroma in Vietnamese cuisine: the mixed  heaven in your nose of roasted garlic, caramelized sugar, freshly  grounded black pepper, and fish sauce.


 Try a slice now. Chew. Uhhhmmm. I know! Hey, let’s resist trying  another, because if you continue, who knows if there is anything left  for real serving, LOL.


*Step 10:* Serve warm with cooked white rice. And dig in! Challenge your chopstick handling skill!







This is a super easy Vietnamese dish to try if you are new to our cuisine.  So fear not, and hold up your fish sauce bottle.


Rose,


----------



## 4meandthem (Apr 29, 2012)

Love it! Thanks!


----------



## Bolas De Fraile (Apr 30, 2012)

Rose keep them coming, I have just taken the belly out of the freezer for tomorrow nights dinner.


----------



## EvillyChic (Apr 30, 2012)

You are very welcome. Keep me posted with the result, ok? 

And yes, more are coming. 

Rose,


----------



## LPBeier (Apr 30, 2012)

Rose, I gladly clink fish sauce bottles with you in celebration of this recipe!

My hubby is allergic to soy and that limits us a lot because Asian cuisine is one of our favourites and I have been adapting my own recipes using fish sauce instead of soy sauce.  Here I can just make it as is and I know we will love this one!

I will be trying it soon!


----------



## EvillyChic (May 1, 2012)

Hi LPBeier,

I am glad to be helpful. And yes, clink, our fish sauce bottles. 

In other Asian cuisine like Chinese or Japanese, they use soy sauce as main condiment. But Vietnamese cuisine, totally different story, thanks to the long sea coast, we have fish sauce, yay! 

I will post some more Vietnamese recipe that use fish sauce to flavor. So stay tuned. 

Keep me posted with your pork belly dish, ok?

Rose,


----------



## LPBeier (May 1, 2012)

If I can pick up some pork belly, I will try this tomorrow!


----------



## Bolas De Fraile (May 2, 2012)

Rosy I made your dish last night and it was very, very good. I made about 50% to much. I think I will use it in  Singapore rice noodles tonight as a sub for char sui unless you have a better use.

The first time I ate Vietnamese food was in a restaurant in Pria Du Vau Portugal  about 30 yrs ago


----------



## EvillyChic (May 2, 2012)

Glad to hear that your dish came out great.  I should have mentioned the serving size for that amount of pork, it should serve 3 people generously, with cooked rice.

I have no better suggestion for the leftover pork, since in Vietnam, if we didn't consume it at once, we will reheat it for tomorrow breakfast or chop it small and stir in a fried rice dish. 

Singapore rice noodles sound very nice, btw. You do enjoy Asian cooking very much, don't you?


----------



## Bolas De Fraile (May 6, 2012)

Rose Liverpool has the oldest China Town in Europe, the food yrs ago was very authentic regional Chinese home cooking.
The restaurant were mainly private houses that emptied a room at the weekend  put a few tables in. I can use sticks and a rice bowl better than a knife and fork
clic on pic to make bigger


----------



## EvillyChic (May 6, 2012)

Wow, Bolas, such a feast for my eyes.  No wonder why you enjoy Asian Cuisine that much.

The private house restaurant is a great idea. Maybe, I should open one here in Finland.  just kidding! I have not been that good! But who knows, right? 

Rose,


----------



## Bolas De Fraile (May 9, 2012)

Rose I was watching some fine vids of a young Aussie chef call Luke Nguyen,have you seen him?


----------



## EvillyChic (May 9, 2012)

Hi Bolas,

I haven't heard about him before until you mentioned. But I do some search on the Internet and Youtube.  He is pretty amazing, going in every area of Vietnam to explore the cuisine. It is great to hear some Vietnamese speaking again. 

Sometimes, there is some Vietnamese words and terms that I could not explain throughly into English, with the help of Luke, it should be easier. 

I will keep eyes on his show. Hey, he is in MasterChef Australia too, wow! There is also a Vietnamese Chef that had won Top Chef America, season 3 I think, Hung Huynh. He is great, too, but his cooking and his performance in the show was a bit influenced by French. I hoped to see more Vietnamese cooking, but anyhow.

Rose,


----------

