Cooking Garlic Pork with Coriander

This is my personal rendition of Thailand's "moo kratiem". It's a garlic pork recipe with coriander and ground pepper.

Read on to get your recipe of this authentic Thai dish.


Before I go on to the post, I would just make a quick disclaimer. This garlic pork recipe is different from the garlic and pepper pork that I made a few posts back. While that garlic pork recipe is more of a Filipino dish, this one's gearing on Thai cooking.

Thai's garlic pork is one of my favorite dishes when I first set foot in this country. I only tried cooking garlic pork recently, though. I suppose that's because food stalls are scattered all over Thailand. For most people, it's easier to buy this garlic pork dish rather than cooking it.

Anyway, some prefer cooking garlic pork with coriander. It adds a bit of Asian flavor to the dish. Coriander has a distinct aroma that gives a dish an extra "umph". In fact, I put a lot of it when cooking pork shanghai.

To make this dish seemingly more Thai-inspired, I'll also use coriander in cooking garlic pork. I'll hold back on the "phong churot", though. It's the term Thai's use on their MSG which they put (a lot) on (almost all) their dish.


Let's begin cooking garlic pork with coriander:
- cooking oil
- pork, cut thinly into strips
- cornstarch or flour (optional)
- garlic, crushed
- coriander, chopped
- hot water
- fish sauce
- brown sugar
- ground pepper

Let's start cooking garlic pork with coriander.
1. Coat the pork with cornstarch.

2. Mix the chopped coriander and pepper with the pork. Let it sit until ready for frying.

3. Heat the pan.
4. Heat the cooking oil.
5. Saute' a portion of the garlic into the pan.
6. Fry the pork under medium heat.
7. Let the pork drip when it's golden brown on both sides.
8. Using the same pan, saute' the rest of the garlic.

In cooking garlic pork with basic, use a lot of garlic - more than what you would normally use. It's called garlic pork for a reason, after all.

9. When the garlic turns golden, put the fried pork into the pan.
10. Put the heat to low-medium range.
11. Add a little water when the pan is running dry.
12. Season the dish with fish sauce and brown sugar.
13. Stir well.
14. Take off from the pan when you achieve the sweet-salty balance.
15. Serve with hot rice.

Garlic pork with basic is usually garnished with sliced cucumbers and some lettuce leaves.

Remember me when you cook!