← Nouns Cooking · Vietnamese

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• ½ Onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 2 tsp Ginger, grated (optional)
• 1 Bird's eye chilli, finely chopped (optional)
• 500 g Minced pork
• 4 tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp Fish sauce
• ¼ tsp Black pepper
• 300 g jasmine rice, cooked, to serve
• 1 Cucumber, sliced
• 2 Tomato, sliced
• 2 Spring onion, sliced

Method

1. Get the rice cooking first. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat and fry the onion for 2 min until soft.
2. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir for 30 seconds.
3. Add the pork and break it up with a spatula. Cook for 3–4 min until it is no longer pink.
4. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and fish sauce. Keep cooking for 5–7 min, stirring only now and then, so the liquid evaporates and the pork fries in its own fat and caramelises into dark, sticky bits.
5. Season with pepper and spoon over bowls of rice with cucumber, tomato and spring onion.

Tips

• Don’t cut back the sugar: it is what makes the pork caramelise rather than stew.
• A fried egg on top turns it into a full meal.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

RecipeTin Eats Vicky Pham