Vietnamese caramel pork recipe

This year, I intend on going back to my old routine of publishing at least two recipe posts in a fortnight. I have been cooking a lot at home lately but sadly, I have lost interest in proper food photography and have drawn myself into the habit of snapping pictures with my iphone.

And without further delay (well, a three month delay actually), this would be my first recipe blog post for the year :) I have been experimenting on simple, one pot recipes due to my hectic schedule and this one from RecipeTinEats is such a simple, delicious one embodying all my favourite sensations aka sweet, salty and sticky. I have modified some of the ingredients slightly in order to use up what I have in the pantry haha.

As the pork skin looked like it would turn out rubbery if I let it cook in the pot, I sliced it off and made it into crackling pork skin. Simply place pork skin under a broiler, set at 170 to 180C.

Ingredients:
100g dark brown sugar
1 tbsp water
1kg pork shoulder, cubed
375ml coconut water
2 shallots, finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp fish sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place water and brown sugar in a pot over medium heat and stir until the sugar has melted and appears to be caramelizing.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, stirring quickly and ensuring to evenly coat every cube of pork. Lower heat until it appears to be simmering gently.
3. Allow to simmer for 1 hour or until the sauce appears to have thickened, without the pot cover, stirring every now and then.
4. Ensure the sauce thickens throughout the cooking process as this would give you that lovely caramelized, sticky sensation at the end.
5. Serve with rice, garnished with chopped chilli or spring onions :)