Thai Grilled Pork (Mu Ping หมูปิ้ง) with Coconut Rice

I adore Thai cuisine. The dishes often have very in-depth flavour and very versatile, which can be adapted with different type of meat or vegetables to suit individual's taste. The scent of lemongrass, Thai basil, kaffir leaves, fish sauce and tamarind are so distinctively Thai that they cannot be easily confused with another cuisine.  

Since most of Thai dishes have a very pungent flavour, I find chicken, pork or white fish are best to absorb all the flavours than red meat.

In this recipe, the marinade would also goes very nicely with chicken or turkey.

Serves 4

600g pork shoulder steaks, diced 

For the marinade

3 stalks of lemongrass (thinly sliced 1 stalk)

2 gloves of garlic

1 tbsp oyster sauce

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp palm sugar

1 tsp sesame oil 

A thumb of fresh ginger

A bunch of fresh coriander

1 lime juice

For the coconut rice

1 can of coconut milk

2 cup of Thai Jasmine rice

Splash of water

1. Blitz all the marinade ingredients in a mini food chopper. 

2. Marinade the diced pork shoulder steaks with the mixture overnight. 

3. For the rice, rinse the rice under tap water a couple of times to get rid of the starch. Drain well.

4. If you are using a rice cooker, pour in a can of coconut milk, add a splash of water, mix well and cook the rice as per rice cooker's instruction; if you are cooking the rice in a saucepan on the hob, cook the rice gently on a low heat for 3 minutes, pour in a can of coconut milk, turn the heat up and bring it to simmer. Bring the heat to the lowest setting and cover with lid. Leave it to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. 

5. Meanwhile, heat the griddle pan on a high heat. 

6. Once the griddle pan is hot enough, put the pork on it and cook for 15 - 20 minutes or until cooked through. 

7. Serve with coconut rice!