Thịt Kho - Caramelized Braised Pork and Eggs

These days, Vietnamese food is rather popular. And when most people think of Vietnamese food, they probably picture phở. This beef noodle soup is so beloved, you can find a phở restaurant in just about any metropolitan city. My globe-trotting sister has sampled it in far-flung places such as Prague and Macau.

However, there's a dish that is eaten in just about every Vietnamese household, yet it's rarely offered in restaurants: caramelized braised pork, known natively as thit kho. In my family, we would eat this dish with rice or we would wrap it up in rice paper with pickled bean sprouts. The latter is often eaten at Tết, Lunar New Year, and it's my favorite way of eating it.

It had been a while since I'd had it, and my cholesterol level isn't high enough, so I made a batch. Oh, did I mention that the best version of thit kho is made with pork belly?

The pickled bean sprouts accompaniment also included Chinese chives and red onion. Mostly Chinese chives as I love that stuff!

The combination of the savory, silky pork and the tart, crunchy veggies is a match made in heaven!