Quintessential Thai street food, moo ping – moreish skewers of pork cooked over a coal fire – delivers both bang for buck and maximum flavour with surprisingly little effort. When well executed, they achieve culinary nirvana: a flawless balance of spicy, salty, sweet, smoke-kissed, juicy and perfectly charred.
Ingredients
- 1kg pork collar butt, thinly sliced into roughly 5 x 2cm strips and tenderised – see notes
- 8 garlic cloves, grated
- Bunch of coriander (with roots), roots finely chopped, leaves reserved
- 2 teaspoons white pepper
- ¾ teaspoon MSG (optional)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 20ml dark soy sauce
- 20ml soy sauce
- 80ml oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons finely grated palm sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch (or tapioca starch)
Nuoc cham dipping sauce
- 7 parts fish sauce
- 7 parts sugar
- 2 parts lemon juice
- Chopped garlic, to taste
- Chopped chilli, to taste
Method
For the skewers, blitz the marinade ingredients together. Toss through the tenderised pork strips until fully coated, then marinate for up to 36 hours. Thread the meat onto skewers like a ribbon, piercing each piece a couple of times. Grill over indirect heat, turning often, until lightly charred.
For extra flavour and authenticity, baste skewers with coconut cream while grilling.
For the most authentic smoky, perfectly charred result, cook over charcoal embers with the skewers elevated above the heat source – either balanced between bricks or on a mesh grill about 30cm above the coals. This can also be approximated with great effect over an electric grill.
For the nuoc cham dipping sauce, combine fish sauce and sugar and stir until dissolved. Add lemon juice, garlic and chilli. Thin with enough water to adjust to taste.
Kitchen notes
Velveting is a versatile tenderising technique used extensively in Chinese cooking. Designed to transform meat and improve the diner experience, it can be applied to most cuts but particularly shines on tougher cuts or those that tend to dry out when exposed to heat.
Velveting can be done two ways. The traditional method coats meat in starch, seasoning (soy sauce, spices and similar) and usually egg white, then rests for 15–30 minutes before par-cooking in hot oil or water, finishing later in the dish.
Alternatively, the quick method (used here) is a short marinade in bi-carb soda – 1 teaspoon per 300g meat. Toss the sliced pork in bi-carb, rest about 30 minutes, rinse well in cold water, pat dry and use as desired.
As seen in spring 2025
