Khao mu daeng

Roast pork sliced over rice with a dark gravy thickened separately and poured at the table.

Pork, Egg, Tofu. Not vegetarian — contains oyster sauce, pork, pork stock.

Ingredients

the pork

1 kg pork loin, in long strips
3 tablespoons red fermented bean curd
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
6 garlic cloves, crushed

the gravy

400 ml pork stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 star anise
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons of the roasting juices

to serve

4 hard-boiled eggs, halved
1 cucumber, sliced
3 spring onions, sliced

Method

THE GRAVY IS MADE SEPARATELY AND POURED AT THE TABLE. It is thick, dark and faintly sweet, and the pork is dry-roasted with a lacquered edge. Cooked together, the pork softens into the sauce and loses the crust that is the reason to roast it.
RED FERMENTED BEAN CURD IS WHERE THE COLOUR COMES FROM, not food dye. Mash it smooth before it goes in -- it arrives in cubes and stays in cubes otherwise.
Marinate the strips overnight, turning once.
Roast at 200C for 25 to 30 minutes on a rack over a tray, turning twice and basting with the marinade.
KEEP THE TRAY JUICES. Two spoonfuls go into the gravy and they are most of its flavour.
Give it 3 minutes under a hot grill at the end to catch the edges, watching constantly -- the honey burns fast.
Rest 10 minutes before slicing, thinly, across the grain.
Gravy: stock, soy, palm sugar, star anise and the reserved juices simmered 10 minutes, then thickened with the cornflour slaked in cold water.
IT SHOULD COAT A SPOON HEAVILY. This is a thick gravy, not a sauce; thin, it soaks the rice to mush.
Rice, pork fanned over it, half an egg, cucumber, gravy poured over at the table and spring onion on top.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Thailand · All recipes