Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly
Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly (Ba chi rang sa) features savory and lightly sweet pork belly pieces browned with a lot of lemongrass, making the dish smell so good. The dish is best served with rice.
Servings: 3 people
Calories: 827kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork belly
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 shallots, minced
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 5-6 lemongrass stalks
- cooking oil
Instructions
- Slice pork belly into bite-sized pieces, about 1/2 inch thick (or up to 3/4 inch thick). Please refer to the video in the post to see how the pork belly pieces look.
- Mix the pork with minced garlic, shallots, fish sauce, sugar and black pepper. Marinate at room temperature for 10-15 minutes (or up to 30 minutes).
- Discard the fibrous outer layer and green part of lemongrass stalks. Slice the white and very light green part very thinly on a bias.
- Heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat and add some cooking oil. Add lemongrass and sauté briefly until you start to smell the aroma.
- Add pork belly to the pan. Keep stirring, toss and cook until the outside of the pork is no longer pink. Then stir and cook every few minutes for about 20-25 minutes until both the pork and lemongrass are golden brown and the pork tastes flavorful. Lower the heat near the end to avoid burning the lemongrass. Adjust seasoning with more fish sauce and sugar to taste.
- Transfer to serving plates and serve hot with steamed rice.
Video
Notes
If you use pork belly with skin, the skin will have a chewy texture (kinda like gummy bears) after being cooked which some Vietnamese people enjoy. It is totally fine to remove the skin before cooking.
If your stove is not powerful, before adding the pork, you can increase the heat to medium high and once the outside is no longer pink, reduce it to medium. This is to ensure your pan is hot, otherwise the pork may be steamed and lose its natural juice.
Once the outside is no longer pink, maintain a medium heat and patiently brown the pork and lemongrass. If the heat is too high, the meat will be dry and tough too fast and the lemongrass may be burned. Cook until both pork and lemongrass are golden brown and the texture is to your liking. The cooking time should not exceed 30 minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 827kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 80g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 524mg | Potassium: 461mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 2mg