Caramelized Pork Belly and Quail Eggs

Recently, pork bellies have been all the rave. Iron Chef Michael Simon lives and dies by them during his battles in Kitchen Stadium and David Chang's braised pork belly on steamed buns is stuff of legends. But before they were so popular on food shows and trendy restaurants, this cut of meat was always cooked at home by people such as my mom and maybe your mom.

The Vietnamese use this cut in their Thit Kho and we Laotians use it in our Tom Khem, which is best described as pork belly stew (the two are almost the exact same thing by the way). Looking back to my younger years, I think my mom was onto something when she used to make this pork belly dish called "Moo Vahn" which literally translates to sweet pork. Who would've known that the dish she used to prepare for me as a child could one day be classified as fine dining material. That makes me wonder what the next new culinary fad will be, I better ask my mom, I think she has a little bit of insight.

Ingredients:

1 pound pork belly (cut into 2-3 inch pieces)

4 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1-2 inch piece of ginger (julienne cut)

3-4 garlic cloves (minced)

1 medium shallot (thinly sliced)

1 can quail eggs

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon canola oil

Directions:

Heat a wok or a deep pan on high heat. Add the oil, shallots and garlic. Cook this for about a minute, don't let the garlic burn as it will cause it to become bitter. Add the pork belly and continue cooking and stirring for about 5 minutes as this will add a sear to the meat. Add the oyster sauce and sugar and reduce the heat down to medium-low. Cover the pan or pot and cook for 15 minutes to infuse the flavors. After the 15 minutes, add water and stir the meat and cover the pan or pot again and cook for 45 minutes - as this is to tenderize the meat. Lastly, add the ginger and quail eggs and cover and cook for another 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, with a spoon begin removing the excess oil and discard. Turn the heat back on to high and stir the pork belly and eggs for about 2-3 minutes or until the proteins look like they have a thick brown coating on them. Removing the cover will let release the moisture and all the sauce to reduce at a faster pace. This last part will caramelize the proteins and will create great flavor. Finally, remove the pork belly and eggs and serve with rice.