These 10-minute Vietnamese caramelized pork bowls will give you a big appetite. The caramelized pork is super savory, slightly sweet, and full of garlic and fish sauce flavor. The best part is that it's super easy and quick to prepare. This is also my best meal prep for the lunchbox or a quick dinner idea.
Ingredients
- 0.7 lb /300g ground pork (mince) (Note 1)
- 4 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (Note 2)
- 1 tsp ginger, grated or minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- some fresh chili (Note 3)
SERVING:
- rice
- sliced green onion (scallion)
- sliced cucumber, tomato
Instructions
- Mince the ginger and garlic. Cutting the chili in half and removing the seeds. Then chop the fresh chili. Set aside.
- Heat the pan over medium heat, add the minced meat and stir until the bottom is golden brown (about 2~3 minutes). Stir until everything is golden brown and transfer to a plate. Set aside.
- In the same pan, add ginger, red chilies and garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- Add minced pork, sugar and fish sauce. Stir until it caramelizes, about 2~3 minutes.
- Serve these Vietnamese bowls of caramelized pork on rice, garnish with green onions, add some sliced cucumber and tomatoes.
Tips & Notes:
- The best ratio for ground pork is 70% lean meat and 30% fat meat. In this ratio, the pork doesn't become too dry and dull. And you don't need to add extra oil. The fatty minced pork gives more flavor to the caramelized.
- In South Asian cuisine, fish sauce is the most important ingredient. So you should get fish sauce at home. The flavor cannot be replaced by oyster sauce or soy sauce.
- Remove the seeds from chili peppers to reduce spiciness. It's optional to add fresh chili or any chili sauce such as Sriracha to add some heat and South Asian flavor to this dish.
- In Vietnamese cuisine, lemongrass and fish sauce are the most representative foods. If you love lemongrass, I recommend using lemongrass paste instead of fresh lemongrass. The fresh lemongrass fibers are too coarse to chew.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I love hearing how it turned out! Leave me a comment and make sure to leave a rating below.
