This is a recipe that I got from my father. Its smell and taste are dear to me and I never saw it anywhere else, even in Vietnam. The recipe is simple but tasty when succeded.
Ingredients for 4 persons
– 500 grams of porc chest cut in thick dices
– 1 large coconut, or 2 young coconuts
– some nuoc mam sauce
– pepper corn (optional)
– rice and veggies to serve with
Preparation
For the meat, pick porc belly with layers of fat and meat. Cut in dices with a square side of skin, about less than 1 square cm2 side.
For the Coconut. Cut open with a hammer and chisel, and collect the coconut water. Then extract the white coconut meat, with a spoon, or if they are solid, extract and slice in thin half moon shapes. When I had no choice, I used an adult one, the inside meat will be thicker and harder and it had less water, but it takes quite a long time, nowadays, I just scrape the inside of 2 young ones, the meat is soft and it’s easier.
Take a large cooking pot, warm up on the stove and start to sauté the porc, if needed add some oil to start. Make sure to avoid attaching or burn it too much. Then add the coconut water and coconut, and a table spoon of Nuoc Mam, some corn pepper if you like.
The coocking is delicate, you want the meat to infuse well in the evaporating water, but also get some caramelization, stay close and check on it. Let the pot cook open a low heat until half the water evaporates, then cover, make sure to stir regularly. After about hour, if the fat has not melted, I like to put in the oven to roast for a very short time, it will colour the meat on the top, so stir well. You can add coconut water and put back on the stove if it’s becoming too dry.
To serve, prepare some vegetables and salad, and jasmine rice in small bowls.
As always, it’s better warmed up the day after, and you skim the solidified fat.