Kho Quet (Caramelized Pork Belly and Dried Shrimp Dip), No Added Refined Sugar
Vietnamese dishesSauces and DipsSouthern Vietnam60 minutes
Kho quet cooks down into a thick, syrupy pot, deeply salty and sweet, and a plate of boiled greens beside it will finish the rice. Crisp nuggets of pork belly sit among chewy dried shrimp, with a heavy hand of pepper for warmth.
The hard part is the consistency, because a pot taken too far turns harsh and salty while an underdone one stays thin and slides off the greens. The pork has to render slowly over low heat for the nuggets to crisp without burning. The rice water or coconut milk added near the end is what thickens the pot naturally.
This batch weighs about 823g, at roughly 302 calories per 100g.
Method
Soak 50g dried shrimp for 10 to 15 minutes, rinse and drain.
Remove the rind from 250g pork belly, cut into 1cm pieces, blanch briefly to clean, then rinse again.
Render the pork over low heat until the pieces turn golden and crisp. Pour off most of the fat and keep the crisp pieces.
Return 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat to the pan and fry 2 tablespoons minced dried shallot until fragrant.
Add the dried shrimp and fry until firm, then return the crisp pork. Season with 8 tablespoons good quality fish sauce, 5 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 10 tablespoons water, and simmer gently.
When the liquid has almost reduced, add 1/3 bowl rice water or coconut milk and simmer over low heat until syrupy. Add the fresh chili, 3 teaspoons black pepper and the spring onion, then turn off the heat.
Tips
The pot is ready when the sauce falls from the chopsticks in a slow thread, and a few more minutes of simmering will get it there.
Pepper is best coarsely ground and added off the heat, since long cooking turns it bitter.
A spoonful of reduced fresh coconut water deepens the color.
Keep the heat low the whole time the pork renders, as high heat scorches the outside and leaves the inside chewy.
Serve with boiled sweet potato leaves, water spinach or okra, whose sweetness balances the salt.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.