I had received many request for this dish so I thought I make it and share with you my recipe for Caramelized Pork with Eggs ខរសាច់ជ្រូកនឹងពងទា (Kaw Sach Jrook & Pong Tear). I think many Cambodians would agree with me that this is a rich, flavorful and comforting food. I remember my Mother making this dish for us kids to enjoy when we return from grade-school. My siblings especially my little brother likes the taste of the eggs braised in the sauce so Mother would use LOTS of eggs. Just spooning the sauce over hot steamy rice is heavenly delicious. 
What makes this dish unique in flavor, color and texture is the caramel sauce and long time braising. While it can be a bit fattening, you can adjust by using lean meat or trim excess fat from the pork. I am using the pork brisket with bone. It has a bit of fat and the bones are young and tender (still white and has that crunch when you bite into it). I have substitute hard boiled eggs with quail eggs. I find that the size of the quail eggs are just perfect for us and because they are smaller than the normal hard boil eggs, I think the yolks are juicier. Again, it’s a personal preference.
Ingredients
1.5 lb pork, cut into big chunks (just a little bigger than bite size because you are going to braise it for awhile)
1 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons sugar
1 can of Coco Rico or Coconut Juice (not to be confused with Coconut Milk)
1 tablespoon whole peppercorn, crushed (optional)
1 can of quail eggs in water or brine (yields about 20 eggs) or hard boiled eggs (qty depend on your liking)
6 tablespoons fish sauce (more of less adjust to taste)
water
Method:
First start out by making the caramel sauce. Heat pot to medium-high and add 2 tablespoons sugar to pot with about 1/4 cup water. The water should coat the sugar. Stir until the sugar is mix and dissolves. It will then starts to caramelizes and you want to continue to stir probably about 5 minutes. When it turns dark, add the pork and coat the pork with the caramelized sauce.
Next, add the dice onions, black pepper (if using), half of the coconut juice and enough water to cover about 1 inch over. Then add the fish sauce and stir to combine. If you like sweeter meat, you can use additional coconut juice in lieu of the water. Cover the pot and bring to a boil for about 2-3 minutes then turn the heat to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes. I did mine for an hour. This help tenderize the pork and allow the flavors just to really come together. Taste and adjust sugar or fish sauce if necessary.
About 5-10 minutes before serving, add the quail or hard boiled eggs. Be careful not to break the eggs and that the sauce fully coats the eggs. Serve with rice.
Note: If you still would like to reduce the fat, you can refrigerate it for several hours or overnight. The fat will rise to the top and harden for easy removal.
Looks delicious .. When I use the CoCo Rico drink, I don’t add sugar, was it sweet for you with the added sugar? I dislike quail eggs cuz it’s a lil cha’arb for me
. You should kaw-threy with lots of garlic and black pepper .. it’s super delicious with bor-bor.
At first I thought it would be too sweet but it turned out fine because only 2 tablespoons of sugar was used and that was to make the caramel for color. And only half of Coco Rico was used + mixed with water. With the fish sauce added, it all balance well. At least in my opinion
You know I don’t like sweet stuff with rice either such as Sweet & Sour Chinese dish or their Walnut Shrimp. I’m hesitant to try Kaw with Fish, I don’t know.. maybe the thought of picking out the fish bone is stopping me. However, I would like to try the thick version of Kaw with a lot of pepper and ginger. Like the one my Mom makes for Syla’s Mom when she just gave birth. Basically the one for kone kjey 
this is it. thanks.
Kaw with fish is good. My mom only used walleye or the Cambodian fish when making it. Yes, the fish bones are fun to pick away.
Khatiya,
As I mentioned in my other blog (I am a Khmer/Thai man with zero talent on cooking the traditional Khmer/Thai dishes.)
I tried your “Caramelized Pork with Eggs” recipe last night. It turned out okay, but not great. I did not expect it to taste sour, but it has slightly sour tastes in it. I must have picked up the sour coconut juice by Aroy-D brand, but it still tastes okay. I browned the meat first to reduce fat prior to caramelize it with the caramelized sugar. It took roughly 1 1/2 hours of slow cooking to tenderize the meat. What is the trick to tenderize the meat quicker? I used pork belly for this recipe. I should have used the rib or something with bone instead. Another thing, I wasted a lot of time stopping by Asian super market after work yesterday. I returned home without the most important ingredient (quail egg).
After I finish this pot, I will try another pot with the proper ingredient and cooking technique. Any suggestion or tip?
Cole,
It tasted sour? Hmmm I’m trying to think how did you get that flavor in there as the recipe did not call for any sour agent. Hmmm.. you don’t have to use the coconut juice or coconut soda. I’ve tried it before and it works as well. The coconut juice/soda just add a touch of sweetness to it (if you like sweet). How to get the meat to tenderize quicker? My guess would be to cut it into smaller pieces and simmer low with the lid on. Also, the cuts of meat will determines how long as well. I haven’t tried it with pork belly but I know those has a lot of fat, perhaps it’s harder to tenderize the fat LOL. Try pork shoulder or pork ribs next time because the fat content is less than the pork belly. Also when I make this I expect leftovers and so as I reheat it the next time around, I just let it simmer again and again, the meats just keep getting tender. Quail eggs can be substitute with regular hard boil eggs too.
It seems that the last plate of the soup last night tasted better than the previous two plates. I drank the left over coconut juice, and it is slightly sour. I will try the Coco Rico brand next time. I will use pork ribs for my next pot of “Caramelized Pork with Eggs”. I will let you know how it turns out!
do you really need the coconut drink? i have everything else but that in the house
Sina,
You don’t have to use coconut drink. You can use coconut soda or just plain water instead. Make sure to taste the final result and adjust (sugar) accordingly.
Hi Doll, this was a hit at my house. I use coconut soda by goya, with no water and it turned out delish.Thanks
Key,
You know me, it put a big fat smile on my already big face lol when I know that my recipes and steps worked and most important you and your family enjoyed the taste. Thank you again for trying out my recipes and letting me know.
making this now with pork belly and bamboo shoots the way my mommy makes it
I’m so happy to find this website!!! my parents never really taught me how to cook and now that I have my own family I’ve been trying so hard to cook new things for them. Whenever I try to get recipes from my parents it always gets so lost in translation, thank goodness for you! I’m going to try your recipe right now, I’ll let you know how it turns out.
oh my….mines turned out horribly horribly wrong! lol
it is superrr sweet from the coco juice…i have no idea what i did wrong. also I tried like 3 times to get the sugar to carmalize and failed.
Boramy,
The sweetness can be adjust with water. Like I mentioned some like it sweet and others doesn’t. Also, to get the sugar to caramelized you really need to wait like 4-5 minutes from the start time. At first when the sugar and water is mixed it just looks plain white. Then the white will start to bubble. You have to constantly stir it so that it does not burn. Then after the white bubbly stage it will start to brown. When it does, it get dark really quick. Keep stirring until it gets dark (not burn) and then quickly add your meat. Once you get pass caramelizing the sugar everything else should be smooth sailing.
So I tried again and threw out the first pot i tried to make and again after like 3 times i finally got the sugar to carmalize haha
and i just didnt even bother with the coco juice.
but i’d like to thank you for your recipe and help because this was the first time my kaw actually tasted like how my mom made it!
I didn’t let the caramel get too brown in the beginning, and now the broth is not the right color. Is it too late to make it browner? Can I just add more sugar?
Khemara,
It’s not too late to fix it however, you cannot just add sugar because it will just make it sweeter. What you can do is caramelize the sugar in a separate pot/pan. Once the sugar caramelized (get darker in color), you can add it back into the pot. Make sure to taste and adjust accordingly before you serve. Most likely you might need to add some more fish sauce to balance out the sweetness. Good luck!
Great, that worked perfect! I found that after a certain point, I needed to stop stirring the sugar, and it caramelized perfectly.
i was wondering would this recipe work with chicken?
Ariel,
Yes, this recipe should work with chicken too. However, you need to keep the chicken pieces fairly big so that they don’t break down when simmering.
This is one of my favorite dish!
but I like mine with bamboo shoots. Keep up the good work.
Hi Khatiya,
Thanks so much for this website! I definitely learn a lot of khmer cooking. I am cambodian, but my husband is spanish and he absolutely loves cambodian food. I grew up with american food, so trying to cook him dinner was hard. I am getting the hang of cooking cambodian food, thanks to you!