Red Pork with Rice | Khao Moo Dang | ข้าวหมูแดง

A popular street food in Thailand, Khao Moo Dang is composed of jasmine rice topped with red pork and a sweet and savory red sauce. It is a one-dish meal that's extremely flavorful and comforting at the same time.

Walk down any street in Thailand, and you're bound to run into a vendor selling Khao Moo Dang. Just like Pad Kra Pao or Pad Thai, it's a one-dish meal that's an extremely popular Thai street food. My husband remembers eating this dish as a child in Thailand - it's comforting, flavorful, and great for kids as it's not spicy.

At its most basic, Khao Moo Dang is simply a plate of jasmine rice topped with Red Pork (the Thai version of Chinese Char Siu) and a sweet and savory red sauce. However, these main ingredients are often accompanied by other meats of Chinese origin, boiled eggs, cucumber, green onion, chili vinegar dipping sauce, and sometimes even a bowl of satisfying clear broth.

Although there are quite a few components to this dish, none of them are hard to make. I'll walk you through the ingredients and instructions below. With this recipe, you can enjoy this popular Thai street food without wandering the streets of Thailand!

Components of Khao Moo Dang

This dish is named after its two biggest components, Jasmine Rice (Khao) and Red Pork (Moo Dang). However, all of the components of the dish are important, and play a role in the overall composition of the meal.

1. Jasmine Rice: The base of this one-dish meal is a bed of fragrant jasmine rice.
2. Red Pork: Red pork known as Moo Dang tops the rice. Moo Dang is the Thai version of Chinese Char Siu. A lean cut of pork is marinated in a mixture of Thai seasonings as well as Chinese five spice powder. Once it has had time to soak up these delicious flavors, the pork is baked and cut into tender, flavorful slices.
3. Red Sauce: A thickened red sauce is spooned over the pork and rice. This sauce is sweet and savory and packed with five spice flavor. A little goes a long way.
4. Chinese Sausage and/or Moo Grob: As Red Pork has its origins in Chinese cuisine, it is often served with other meats of Chinese origin accompanying it on the plate. These sides typically include Chinese sausage and Crispy Pork known as Moo Grob.
5. Boiled Egg: A boiled egg cut in half is often served with Khao Moo Dang.
6. Cucumbers and/or Green Onion: Cucumber slices and green onion sprigs are usually plated next to the Khao Moo Dang. These fresh vegetables add a nice crunch to the otherwise soft meal.
7. Chili Vinegar Sauce: This accompaniment made of soy sauce, vinegar, and chilis helps to cut the sweetness of the Khao Moo Dang. You can add as much or as little as you like to your plate.

Red Pork

The Thai version of Chinese Char Siu (known as Red Pork or Moo Dang) is flavorful and tender. Although the marinade calls for many ingredients, it's not hard to put together. Once it has been marinated, the pork is cooked and cut into thin slices to top the jasmine rice. All of the ingredients for Red Pork are explained in detail in this Moo Dang recipe.

Red Sauce

The red sauce that is spooned over the red pork and rice is sweet and savory and packed with five spice flavor. Many recipes call for using the leftover pork marinade as the base of this sauce. However, I prefer to make it from scratch to avoid any cooked / congealed pork blood in the sauce. The ingredients to make it are listed below.

• Garlic: A few cloves go a long way to provide a base aromatic flavor.
• White pepper powder: Known as Prik Thai, white pepper powder adds a subtle spice.
• Fermented soybean sauce: Known as Tao Jiao, this sauce is made by allowing salted soybeans to ferment. The resulting paste is extremely salty with lots of umami flavor.
• Thin soy sauce: Thai thin soy sauce adds a little extra saltiness.
• Dark soy sauce: Dark soy sauce is a thick soy sauce with molasses flavor.
• Sesame oil: Sesame oil enhances the flavor of the sauce.
• Five spice powder: Five spice powder is one of the predominant flavors of this sauce.
• Palm sugar: The sweetness of the sauce comes from palm sugar.
• Red food coloring: The red color of this sauce is achieved by adding a few drops of red food coloring to the sauce.
• Roasted sesame seeds: Sesame seeds are a defining ingredient of the Red Sauce. Some recipes call for crushing them slightly before adding to the sauce.
• Chicken broth: Chicken broth is added to make the sauce into more of a pourable liquid sauce.
• Cornstarch: Cornstarch is used to thicken the sauce. Mix with some of the chicken broth before adding it to the sauce. The sauce should be slightly thickened, but definitely still pourable.

Chili Vinegar Sauce

A bowl of chili vinegar sauce is usually served with Khao Moo Dang. This spicy and sour dipping sauce helps to cut the sweetness of the red sauce, and adds a wonderful depth of flavor to the overall dish. The ingredients to make it are detailed below.

• Dark soy sauce: Thai dark soy sauce is thick with a hint of molasses flavor.
• Thin soy sauce: Thin soy sauce adds a lot of umami-rich saltiness.
• White vinegar: Plain white vinegar provides the sour taste of this dipping sauce.
• Sugar: White granulated sugar is used to balance the sourness of the sauce.
• Water: Some plain water helps the sauce come together.
• Mild pepper: This dipping sauce is not meant to be terribly spicy. Instead of Thai chili peppers, use a milder, larger pepper such as fresno or jalapeno pepper.

Accompaniments

The main components of Khao Moo Dang are rice (khao), red pork (moo dang), red sauce, and chili vinegar sauce as detailed above. A plate of Khao Moo Dang would be considered complete with just these items. However, in addition to these main ingredients, this dish is often served with several additional accompaniments.

• Crispy pork: Crispy pork, known as Moo Grob in Thai, is pork belly that has been deep fried until the skin is super crispy and bubbly. Like Moo Dang, it is not hard to make, but it does take some time. Alternatively, you can purchase Crispy Pork from your local Asian grocery store.
• Chinese sausage: Chinese sausage can be bought from your local Asian grocery store. Cook in a shallow pan of water until the water cooks off, then slice into thin slices.
• Cucumbers and Green Onion: These vegetables add a nice crunch to the otherwise soft dish. The cucumber should be peeled and sliced. The green onion is often served whole.
• Eggs: Chicken or duck eggs are often boiled and served in halves alongside the dish. Boil the eggs for 7-8 minutes to achieve a slightly runny yolk, then cool and peel before slicing in half.

Storage

The individual components of this dish should be stored separately. The rice, pork, and sauce can all be refrigerated for several days. The chili vinegar sauce can be left on the countertop for several days as well. When you're ready to serve it again, simply reheat the individual components and plate again.