Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly (Ba Chi rang Sa) includes savory and delicious pork belly bits that are browned with lemongrass. The dish will smell divine. It’s best served with rice.
The main dishes that are part of the menu rotations of daily meals of Viet families typically use only the most basic ingredients. This lemongrass pork belly recipe is the same. It only requires six ingredients and cooks inside the same pan. The Vietnamese name for the recipe can be described as ba chi ba rang sa also known as ba roi rang sa. It’s easy to understand how simple this recipe is by watching the following video.
Ingredients
The elements that create this recipe delicious are:
- Pork belly
- lemongrass
- the fish sauce
- sugar
You can adjust the amount of sugar and fish sauce according to your preferences. Sugar will enhance the flavor as well as giving the meat a lovely dark golden color. It is also possible to include garlic, shallots, as well as black pepper to enhance the flavor further.
Make Pork Belly
Pork belly has three different layers. They are an outer skin and the fat layer, and meat. It is best to pick one that has the slim coating of fat. In the event that fat is thick the dish will be too oily.
For this particular dish it is not necessary to preserve your skin. The skin has an abrasive texture (kinda similar to chewy bears) that certain Vietnamese consumers enjoy. It may seem odd to you however in Asia there are times when we take food only to enjoy the texture. In any case, it’s acceptable to take off the skin prior to cooking.
First , slice the pork in pieces that are bite-sized (1/2 1 inch or 3/4 inches) as shown in the picture below. Marinate with sugar and fish sauce in the refrigerator for about 15 mins (or for up to 30 mins at room temp).
Make sure you have prepared Lemongrass
If you’re reading this, you have seen a number of Vietnamese recipes that use lemongrass that are posted on our blog (such as this Lemongrass Pork Chops, bun cha or lemongrass tofu). For this dish you will only require lemongrass stalks, which are the white and light green parts of the lemongrass stalks.
You’ll need to cut them thinly, on an angle like in the image below. The green part is fibrous and we will not be using for stir-fries.
What to make Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly
It’s much faster and simpler to prepare ba chi sang sau than the other Vietnamese pork belly dish (Thịt kho trứng) I posted a few days time ago. However it still needs a little patience.
Then prepare the aromatics, then saute until fragrant, then add the meat.
The lemongrass and pork belly will require browning in a medium flame over 20 to 25 minutes (no longer than 30 mins). It is known as the rang chay canh and is a popular dish in Vietnamese. The reason for this is that we need the fat and flesh to disintegrate sufficiently to ensure that the pork cooked taste delicious and have a pleasant chew.
Give the entire pan an occasional stir to ensure they’re evenly brown. If the temperature exceeds the desired level, then your meat could become dry and hard quickly and the lemongrass pieces could burn and we do not want to do that.
What can you serve with this Dish
It is recommended that you eat this dish served with steaming rice. For a complete meal, add the stir-fried or steamed vegetable dish or soup.
See more: Other Vietnamese pork recipe
Ba Chỉ Rang Sả – Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 1 2 lbs pork belly
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon plus 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 3 shallots, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper freshly cracked
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of granulated sugar
- 5-6 lemongrass stalks
- cooking oil for cooking
Instructions
- Slice the pork belly into pieces bite-sized About half an inch in thickness (or as thick as 3/4 inches). Check out the video posted in the article to learn how the pieces of pork appear.
- Blend the meat with chopped garlic and shallots sugar, fish sauce, and pepper. Keep to room temp for 10 to 15 hours (or for up to 30 mins).Remove the fibrous outer layer and the lemongrass' green stalks. Slice the white and light green portion very thinly , on the bias.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat it up at medium-low heat, and add cooking oil. Add lemongrass, and cook until you begin to get a whiff of the scent.
- Add the pork belly to the pan. Stir, mix with lemongrass, and let cook till the exterior part of the meat isn't anymore pink. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes for 20 to 25 minutes, until the lemongrass and pork are golden brown, and the pork becomes delicious. Reduce the heat towards the end so that you don't burn the lemongrass. Adjust the seasoning by adding more sugar and fish sauce according to your preference.
- Transfer the plates to serving dishes Serve hot rice steamed.
