Clay Pot Pork-the Sequel

The pork recipe I made for Eileen was so good, I thought I'd do it again...the next day. G came back from a week of business travel and what better way to welcome him home than with strange Eastern aromas. Again we started off with the spring rolls (see recipe here) and moved on to the clay pot pork.

I still had a bunch of the herbs left over and I asked him to pick up some more pork loin on his way home. I used a different recipe this time (that I liked better, see below), which yielded the heavenly juices that were missing before. It was savory, saucy and bursting with umami. The recipe also called for a hard boiled egg. Sounds strange, but it added an additional dimension and creaminess to the dish.

We finished with a little bitter and sweet (financial news and dark chocolate fudge store-bought bundt cake).

Here's the recipe from Recipelink.com:

VIETNAMESE CLAY POT PORK

"One of our everyday dish. If you don't have a clay pot, use a normal saucepan, big enough to hold about 1 1/2 lbs. pork and some sauce. I prefer pork tender loin with a bit of fat, but many people like pork shoulder or pork chops. If you use pork chops, change to about 1 3/4 - 2 lbs."

2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup sugar*
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 whole shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 to 2 chili, chopped
2 tablespoons fish sauce (or change depending on your taste)
1 1/2 lbs pork tenderloins, cubed about 1 1/2 inch in size
1 pinch salt, to taste
1 pinch pepper
4 to 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled (optional)
1/2 cup water

Put oil in pot or pan over medium heat, add sugar and cook, stirring frequently till it dissolves.

Add ginger, garlic, shallots, chili, cook for about 4-5 minutes Turn up the heat to high, add pork, stir till the meat has browned a little, then add water. When it comes to a boil, lower heat to simmer.

Cut hard boil eggs in half and put into pot. The eggs are optional, but they will absorb all the sauce and taste heavenly!

Cover the pot and let it simmer. I find the longer you leave it, the better it taste.

But after 30-35 minutes it's done.

Serve with cooked white rice or basmati, and that's a meal there.

Normally we just steam cabbage or water spinach for vegetables.

4-6 servings

*instead of just sugar, I used my mom's home-made caramel.