Ask Vietnamese-Australian chef Jerry Mai to describe Vietnamese food, and she is momentarily lost for words. It's hard to describe the complex flavours and aromas behind the cuisine, but one of her favourite dishes is, she said, pretty simple.
It is thit kho, or braised pork with eggs. The dish, in which pork meat — usually pork belly — is stewed with boiled eggs in a coconut caramel sauce, has been a mainstay since her childhood.
"As a child, I remember eating it with a hot bowl of rice and I'd be the happiest child in the world," she said. "So simple; lots and lots of flavour."
To make the dish, Mai marinates blanched pork belly in a mix of sugar, garlic, spring onions and fish sauce. She adds more sugar and caramelises the marinade the following day, then the pork and coconut water are added and left to simmer until the meat is tender. Lastly, she boils the eggs, deep-fries them, and tops the stew with the eggs – a twist on the traditional way of stewing the hard-boiled eggs together with the meat.
Mai's mum now uses pork shoulder or pork loin because they are healthier and less fatty cuts, Mai said. But the chef stands by using pork belly, because other pork cuts dry out after the thit kho is cooked for a long time and the dish is reheated over several days. "My brothers and our partners have complained bitterly about this, but we still have not won this battle for the last few years. So, we'll continue to fight the good fight," Mai joked about her family's thit kho meals.
Using coconut water adds a little bit of sweetness and richness to the stew, Mai said, but water can be used if you don't have coconut water on hand. "Don't tell my mother," she said with a laugh.
Thit kho is a symbol of familial ties for Mai. Her family were refugees who left Vietnam for a Thai refugee camp before moving to Brisbane, Australia. In Brisbane, both her parents were factory workers so she barely got to see them. Seeing thit kho on the stove meant she knew they were home, and they would get to have a meal together as a family. The dish is also eaten during Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year – a time when families gather for the holiday – and used as an altar offering to ancestors.
Today, Mai cooks thit kho for her wife and their two young boys when they have family meals too. "There's food on the table, we sit down, and we talk about their weekend," said Mai, who runs the restaurants Pho Nom, which has two outlets in central Melbourne, and Bia Hoi in Glen Waverley, a Melbourne suburb. "It's really bringing the family together."
Jerry Mai recently published her second cookbook, Vietnam: Morning to Midnight (Credit: Jana Langhorst)
The recipe is in Mai's second cookbook, Vietnam: Morning to Midnight, which came out this past February. She decided to write a second cookbook because she felt there were more Vietnamese dishes to highlight that she didn't write about in her first book, Street Food: Vietnam.
Her recipes, she said, are also simple on purpose. "A lot of times people look at complex recipes… and they never open the book again," she said. "But [with] simple recipes, [it uses] a lot of pantry stuff [that] cross over – the dry products, fish sauce, noodles, that kind of stuff. So, you can cook it once, and then try it in another recipe."
Mai describes Vietnamese food as fresh and fragrant, where herbs and salads often accompany dishes. Her favourite part of the cuisine is the meats, which are often grilled over charcoal, making the meat even more aromatic. And Vietnam is jam-packed with different tastes and textures because it's meant to "fuel everyday people with really good flavours".
Mai hopes more people will cook, eat and appreciate Vietnamese food. While most people know that the cuisine exists, many still think of it as cheap food. "When people start making something, they get a better idea about the value of what is being done and what is being made," she said. Mai hopes her approachable recipes will be the first step in valuing the art of Vietnamese food.
Chef Jerry Mai's Vietnamese braised pork with egg is best served with rice (Credit: Chris Middleton)
Thit Kho: Vietnamese Braised Pork with Egg recipe
By Jerry Mai
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1kg (2lb 3oz) pork belly, cut into 3cm (1 ¼ in) cubes
2 spring onions (scallions), white part only, lightly bruised
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200ml (7oz) fish sauce, plus extra if needed
150g (5 ½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar, plus extra if needed
vegetable oil, for frying and deep-frying
juice of 2 young coconuts (you can substitute 800ml to 1 litre of coconut water or water; just use enough cover the meat
4 eggs
spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced, for garnish
pinch of ground white pepper, for serving
steamed jasmine rice, for serving
Method
Step 1
Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add the pork belly and blanch for 10-15 minutes. Drain the pork and rinse under cold running water. Set aside.
Step 2
In a large bowl, combine the spring onions, garlic, 2 tbsp of the fish sauce and 1 tbsp of the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the pork and set aside in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.
Step 3
Place 2 tbsp of oil and the remaining sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously for 4-6 minutes until the sugar caramelises and turns golden brown. Add the pork belly with its marinade and quickly stir through the caramel.
Step 4
Add the remaining fish sauce and give everything a good stir. Add the coconut juice and pour in enough cold water to just cover the pork. Simmer over low heat, uncovered for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until the meat is tender. Season to taste with more fish sauce and sugar, if necessary.
Step 5
Meanwhile, to cook the eggs, bring a saucepan of water to a boil and gently lower in the eggs. Cook for 6 ½ minutes, so that the centres are still soft. Using a slotted spoon, remove the eggs from the pan and plunge into iced water. Peel and set aside.
Step 6
Heat 1 litre (4 cups) of oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat to 180C/350F on a kitchen thermometer. Carefully lower the eggs into the oil and deep-fry for 2-3 minutes until golden. Using a slotted spoon, remove the eggs and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
Step 7
To serve, divide the pork belly and cooking liquid among serving bowls. Cut the eggs in half and add to the bowls. Garnish with the spring onions and a pinch of white pepper. Serve with steamed rice.
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