Caramelized Pork & Quail Eggs

Caramelized Pork & Quail Eggs

Adapted from an internet recipe.
This recipe is Khmer Krom in origin, and the Khmer Krom are ethnic Khmer living in Vietnam, and this sounds absolutely delicious. For those in the US if you do not have fresh quail eggs available to you, you can certainly use the canned eggs found in most Asian markets (they are also already cooked and peeled). The procedure to hard boil fresh quail eggs is in the Recipe Notes. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Cambodian
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 24 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled, or 1 can drained, Shortcut
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • ¼ cup fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups young coconut juice
  • 750 grams pork shoulder, cut into 1 inch pieces, (1½ lb)
  • 2 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Have your quail eggs prepared and set aside. If using canned eggs, just drain, rinse, and set aside.
  • In a large pot, add the 1 tablespoon of water and the 1 tablespoon of sugar, turn on the heat to medium and whisk the water and sugar until the sugar turns a dark brown in color.
  • Carefully pour in the 3 cups of water and stir well then add the garlic, fish sauce, the 2 tablespoons of sugar, salt, and coconut juice, and stir to mix well.
  • Add the pork, eggs, and simmer until the pork is tender, stirring occasionally. This can be 45 minutes to over an hour.
  • When the pork is nice and tender, stir in the black pepper, ladle into bowls and garnish with spring onion. Serve with rice on the side.

Notes

The pork shoulder will cost about 75 Baht/750 grams. The quail eggs if bought at Tesco will cost about 50 Baht/pack of 24. (If you buy quail eggs from a local vendor, about half that price.) For servings, this is about 98 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
Pong Mouan Snol (Cambodian Pork Omelet)

Pong Mouan Snol (Cambodian Pork Omelet)

Recipe here is courtesy Tara's Multicultural Table and her recipe is here, United States.
Cambodian dishes normally take a back seat to Thai and Vietnamese dishes only because it is rarely heard of. I have been to Cambodia several times, the chow is excellent! I am going to change this up from a giant family size omelet to several smaller ones. This is on my to cook list for sure.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Breakfast, Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Cambodian
Servings 4 omelets

Ingredients
  

For the Pork Filling

  • 500 grams ground pork, (1 lb)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced
  • 2-3 tablespoons preserved cabbage, or to taste, it is salty
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons mushroom sauce

For the Eggs

  • 12 eggs, for 3 egg omelets
  • 2 teaspoons mushroom sauce
  • olive oil, as needed, or use use butter
  • spring onions, thinly sliced

For Serving

  • cilantro, chopped for garnish
  • cucumber, sliced as a side
  • tomato, sliced as a side

Instructions
 

  • In a large non stick pan, heat the oil, when hot, add the onion and cabbage, and cook just until the onion is starting to get soft, then add the pork, sprinkle in the sugar, salt, pepper, and mushroom sauce. Cook and break up the ground pork with a spatula until cooked through. Set this pan aside.
  • For the eggs, instead of just cracking 12 eggs into a bowl, crack 3 eggs into a measuring cup and make a note of the quantity. This is so you can scoop out the egg mixture for each omelet.
  • Pour those 3 eggs into a large mixing bowl, crack in the remaining eggs, then stir in the mushroom sauce.
  • In another large non stick pan heat a splash of olive oil or some butter, when the oil/butter is hot, use a measuring cup and measure out the 3 egg amount, and pour into the pan.
  • Move the pan around to spread the egg mixture out a bit.
  • Let the egg mixture cook for about a minute, then add ¼ of the meat mixture to ½ of the egg mixture, cook for another minute or until the egg mixture is getting set.
  • Use a large wide spatula and fold the other half of the egg over the pork mixture, and hold that for a few seconds to let that set. Cook for another minute or so.
  • When the eggs are good and set, slide the omelet onto a plate.
  • Add a side of Jasmine rice and some sliced cucumbers and tomatoes.

Notes

Figure about 45 Baht/500 grams for ground pork. For 4 omelets, this is about 35 cents per serving.