Moo Ping: Quite Possibly The Finest Fast Food Ever Created!

Walk down any semi-populated street in Bangkok and you're bound to find delicious Thai food. There's always a wide variety of food to choose from; Pad Thai, soup, BBQ chicken, fried rice, fried bananas, dim sum, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, and what is perhaps the finest fast food ever created, Moo Ping (หมูปิ้ง), or Grilled Pork Skewers. Small sticks of mouthwatering pork can be had for just five baht per stick and most people get a serving of sticky rice with their order. 25-baht (80 cents US) gets you four skewers of pork and a small bag of sticky rice. The order is then placed inside a plastic bag, making it the ultimate takeaway food. The above photo is of large pork skewers. These will set you back ten-baht each. I purchased two, plus a small bag of sticky rice, and ate while standing at the vendor's stand. If you find yourself on a Bangkok street and you want a quick meal that melts in your mouth, look no further than Moo Ping (หมูปิ้ง). You won't be disappointed!

Thai Street Food

Moo Ping Recipe

Ingredients:

• fish sauce
• garlic, 3-5 cloves
  
• pork, 500 gm (the neck meat is the best choice for this dish)
  
• palm sugar, 3 tsp
  
• asafoetida, a pinch
  
• bamboo skewers
• coconut milk, ½ cup
  

Nam Chim Moo Ping (Sauce)

• palm sugar, 4 tsp
  
• chopped cilantro, 
  
• fish sauce, 30 ml (2 Tbsp)
  
• ground fresh chili paste, 1 tsp
  
• tamarind, 1 Tbsp
  
• water, ¼ cup
  

Method:

1. To prevent the skewers from scorching or ashing on the grill, soak the skewers for 30 minutes, at least, in water.
2. Cut the pork into 2 to 3 cm wide strips. Cut pieces of the fat about the same width by ½ cm.
3. Crush the garlic and mix the fish sauce, palm sugar a pinch of asafoetida and coconut milk together. marinate the pork and pork fat for a minimum of half an hour or  over night refrigerated.
4. Thread a skewer through the pork with a piece of fat at the top of the skewer.
5. Grill the skewer until the meat is cooked
6. Make an extract of tamarind by mixing a tbsp. of the pulp with a little hot water and by your fingers homogenise the pulp and remove the seeds and fibre.
7. Mix the extract, brown sugar, fish sauce and ground fresh chili paste in a small saucepan and heat this on a low flame with stirring.  Stir until all the ingredients are dissolved.    Add chopped cilantro. 

Thailand: The Beautiful Cookbook