Happy Vietnamese New Year everyone!
It’s the Year of the Dragon, the year most coveted by superstitious Asians all over the world. It’s believed that being born in the Year of the Dragon ensures a life of strength and prosperity, big brains and good luck – and many couples base their family planning around this year. Birthing suites are booked through August already in some Southeast Asian countries, and hospitals are jacking up their prices! So if you subscribe to this superstition, start your babymaking *immediately*! You have until the month of May to conceive, or you’ll be waiting another 12 years to produce a Dragon Baby. (At the rate I’m going, it could very well be that long before I’m makin’ any babies at all.)
Anyway, Vietnamese tradition would have us spending the day honoring our ancestors, handing out lucky money to kids, wearing our best clothes and eating loads of good food. I had the privilege of celebrating Vietnamese New Year in Vietnam in 2011. It was an incredible experience. The festivities there made me feel so alive!
Although I won’t be able to provoke authentic dragon dances on dirt countryside roads surrounded by coconut trees this year, I can still enjoy some of the Vietnamese New Year (Tết) traditions here in the States.
Did you know that Southern California is home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam? That said, Tết festivals can be found all over Los Angeles, and particularly Orange County. This weekend, I’ll be attending the UVSA Tết Festival in Garden Grove (Click here for more info about the festival). There’ll be music, dancing, a beauty pageant, martial arts, games – and most importantly, food!
So many great dishes to choose from in the Vietnamese New Year tradition, one of them being Thịt Heo Kho Trứng. It’s a fatty pork dish that my mother makes me every time I come home to visit. It’s always been one of my Vietnamese favorites, but I didn’t know until I was in Vietnam last year that it’s traditionally a New Year’s dish. I guess my mom’s been spoiling me all these years by cookin’ it up any old time I wanted it. Thanks mom!
You can easily find variations of the recipe online. I leave you with my mom’s.
Wishing you and yours a prosperous new year. And yummy food. CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI!
Thịt Heo Kho Trứng
Also known as Thịt Kho Nước Dừa or Thịt Kho Tàu
(Coconut Braised Pork With Eggs)
Photo courtesy of a very cool Vietnamese food blogger! Check out A Blog of Salt.
Ingredients:
2 lbs pork belly, cut in 1-inch cubes
6-8 small eggs, boiled and peeled (optional: pan-fry after boiling)
2 cans coconut soda
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nước mắm)
Vietnamese Caramel Sauce (Nước Màu): In a small heavy-bottom pan, combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons water. On medium heat, allow sugar to melt. Stir occasionally until the sugar melts completely and turns into a golden brown color. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Pre-heat a heavy-bottom pot, add oil and garlic. Stir until garlic becomes light brown and fragrant.
- Add pork and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Add fish sauce.
- Slowly pour about half of the caramel sauce into the pot. Add the rest if you prefer yours more sweet.
- Allow pork to cook in caramel sauce for about 5 minutes.
- Add coconut soda and reduce heat to low.
- Allow the pork to simmer for about an hour, or until meat is tender.
- About 15 minutes before the meat is finished, carefully add the fried or boiled eggs.
Serve over rice and enjoy the tender goodness!