Caramel-Glazed Pork

Serves : 4 people

Preparation : 15 minutes

Cooking : 15 minutes

Ingredients

For pork
600 g of pork loin boneless, or pork breast
1 pod of garlic
2 cm of fresh ginger
2 tbsp of peanut oil or another oil suitable for cooking
8 pods of garlic
5 tbsp of granulated sugar
1 heaping tbsp of soy sauce
4 tbsp of nuoc-mâm sauce
pepper
fresh cilantro or Thai chives

For support
240 g of Basmati rice

Kitchen utensils
chef's knife
sauté pan

Instructions

Preparing the rice

Cook the basmati rice as instructed on the cooking times page.

Preparing the pork

Cut the pork into strips about 1/2 inch thick.
Crush the garlic cloves to peel them, then remove the germ. Chop them into small pieces.
Peel the ginger and cut it into thin strips.
Mix the pork with the garlic and ginger. Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the pork.
Brown the pork in very hot oil for about 5 minutes. Remove it as soon as it starts to brown, and before the garlic and ginger burn.

Don’t worry, the pork will continue to cook in the next steps of this recipe.

The Chef’s Tip

To succeed in this step, your oil must be very hot, but not smoking. Refer to the article Heating Cooking Oil: Not Too Hot, Not Too Cool! if you’re unsure how to do this.
Keep the heat fairly high. Add
the sugar to the empty pan and swirl it around a few times to coat it with the pork’s cooking juices.
Then push it to the center of the pan and let it melt.

You’ll see—the sugar should melt and spread across the pan.
Add the soy sauce and nuoc mâm sauce to the hot caramel. Be careful of caramel splatters—they could burn you.
As soon as you’ve added the sauces, turn off the heat and mix well with the caramel using a wooden spatula.
Add the meat and simmer for 10 minutes over low heat, covered.

Notes

If you want a dish with a richer, creamier sauce, you can add half a liter of chicken broth and a teaspoon of cornstarch at the same time you add the nuoc-mâm and soy sauce. Let it simmer over low heat, uncovered.