Traditionally served with rice, this dish is often served during tết, the Vietnamese lunar new year. Use white sugar, not brown. The lovely caramel color of the dish is acquired by properly caramelizing the sugar until amber colored.Use the juice from a young coconut. The juice from mature coconut will ruin the dish.
In a large shallow pan, boil two cups of water with a tablespoon of fish sauce. Drop in the pork, bring to the boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Scoop out the pork and cut into 1 ½-inch cubes.
In a wok, heat the cooking oil.
Saute the shallots and garlic for about a minute then stir in the pork cubes.
Drizzle in two to three tablespoons fish sauce and leave to allow the pork to soak up the liquid and render some fat.
While the pork cooks in fish sauce, melt the sugar with a quarter cup of coconut juice until syrupy and amber colored.
Pour the caramelized sugar over the pork and toss until every pork cube is coated with the syrup.
Pour in the remaining cup and a half of coconut juice and add the hard-boiled eggs.
Cover the wok and braise the pork and eggs for about 30 minutes or until the pork is cooked through and the sauce has reduced to less than half.
Taste, add more fish sauce if needed, before serving with rice.