Pork and Egg Stew in Coconut Juice (Thit Kho Nuoc Dua)

One of my favorite dishes to enjoy especially in the winter evenings. I looked forward to eating this dish when my mother use to make it for the household. I think my favorite part is actually pouring the sauce of this stew over my rice. As a child I love taking a big bowl of rice, drench it in the stew and mash-up one of the eggs. The tender meat, the coconut sweetest of the stew, and the creamy egg yolk just warms up the belly. During these cold winter month I recommend you make yourself a large pot and eat it over the passing of the week.

Ingredients:

1 pound pork belly
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 Tbs fish sauce
¼ tsp black pepper
5 whole hard boiled eggs
3 cans of coconut soda

Directions:
1. Cut the pork belly into large bite size chunk, 1 1/2 inches thick. Rub the crushed garlic on the pork belly and let sit for 15 minutes for aromatic.
2. Add to the pork the shallots, fish sauce, and black pepper. Marinate for 30 minutes.
3. Stir fry the pork in oil for 5 minutes to brown the pork. Add the coconut soda and bring to a boil. Remove the residue that will rise.
4. Lower the heat, add the eggs, and cover the pot. Be sure that the liquid covers all the meat and egg. If needed add more coconut soda. Simmer over low heat for 2 hours. This will allow time for the sugar from the coconut soda to caramelize the pork and egg as well as tenderize the pork meat. Remove the residue.