Thai garlic pepper pork is an irresistible dish that is very easy to make and can be whipped up in 20 minutes! It’s great with rice or porridge. Add cucumber slices to the combo and there you have the perfect dinner for any evening.
Why This Recipe Works
If I have to name a Thai dish that pretty much every Thai kid and adult loves, Thai garlic pepper pork, known as moo gratiem (หมูกระเทียม) or moo tod gratiem prik thai (หมูทอดกระเทียมพริกไทย) in Thai, definitely comes to mind. Why this dish? Because it’s so tasty and such an easy pork recipe to make. Also, there’s no chili in it, so you don’t have to worry about it being too hot for kids.
For those who don’t eat pork, there are other variations of this dish as well. Here, people do make or order garlic pepper chicken, beef, seafood or even tofu. Most of the ingredients required are basic sauces for cooking Asian. There might be one or two that you may not be familiar with but they’re sure worth having if you love to cook Asian food.
Ooh, and make sure you enjoy it with this bael fruit drink, such a great combo!
Ingredients You Need
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
Ingredient Notes
White Peppercorns: This is a must. Pounded whole white peppercorns give a much stronger scent than white pepper powder and that’s what makes this dish delicious.
Pork: I prefer to use the cut with just a bit of fat or none at all but you can use any cut you like.
Oyster Sauce: This sauce keeps the pork moist and also adds a bit of saltiness and thickness to all the other ingredients that will coat the pork.
Sweet Soy Sauce: If you’ve read enough Thai recipes, you might have noticed we use sugar in our cooking. In Thai cuisine, we don’t always add sugar to actually sweeten food. A lot of times we just use it to round out the flavor. For this dish, though, we’re using sweet soy sauce instead of sugar because it helps us achieve that nice dark brown color that sugar won’t. 😉
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Add white peppercorns to the mortar
Step 2: Pound with a pestle until fine.
Step 3: Add garlic to the mortar.
Step 4: Roughly pound the garlic while the pepper is still in the mortar.
Step 5: Put the pork that has already been cut into pieces in a bowl and season with salt.
Step 6: Add the pounded white peppercorns and garlic mixture.
Step 7: Massage to mix everything with your hand for about a minute and set aside.
Step 8: Set a pan over medium heat.
Step 9: Add oil to the pan.
Step 10: Fry the marinated pork in the pan.
Step 11: Add oyster sauce.
Step 12: Add soy sauce.
Step 11: Add sweet soy sauce.
Step 12: Continue to fry the pork for another few minutes or until done.
What To Serve With This Dish
When it comes to serving Thai garlic pork, you can serve it with steamed rice or porridge. If you’re sharing it with other people, serve it in a bowl or dish and use a spoon to take some of the pork to your own dish/bowl. If you’re having this dish on your own, simply place it over or on the side or rice and enjoy with cucumber slices.
I have to mention that Sriracha sauce goes so well with moo tod gratiem. If you already have the sauce at home, be sure to try this dish with it!
Storage
If you don’t finish this dish in one go or you want to prepare it in advance, you can put it in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
When you’re ready to eat, simply microwave it at the highest heat for 1-2 minutes.
📖 Recipe
Thai Garlic Pepper Pork Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon white peppercorns
- 2 ½ heads garlic pealed
- 200 grams pork cut into pieces
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ tablespoon oyster sauce
- ½ tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon sweet soy sauce
- 3 cilantro leaves for garnish
- cucumber slices
Instructions
- Add the white peppercorns to the mortar and pound until fine.In a mortar, pound the white peppercorns until fine with a pestle. Add the garlic and give it a few pounds. The garlic doesn't need to be fine.
- With the pounded white peppercorns still in the mortar, add the garlic to it and roughly pound. Make sure the garlic is not too fine.
- Place the pork in a bowl and season with salt and the garlic and pepper mixture. Massage to mix everything together for about 1 minute.Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the pork once the oil is hot.
- Set a pan over medium heat and add oil to the pan.
- Place the pork in the pan to fry.
- Season the pork with oyster sauce, soy sauce and sweet soy sauce.
- Remove from heat when the pork is done and serve with rice or porridge or let cool and store in the refrigerator.
Video
Notes
- Don't use replace whole white peppercorns with pepper powder. Pounded whole peppercorns give a much stronger scent than white pepper powder and that's what makes this dish delicious.
- You can use any cut of pork you like. I recommend one with just a bit of fat or none at all.
- Don't omit this sauce because it keeps the pork moist and also adds a bit of saltiness and thickness to all the other ingredients that will coat the pork.
- A lot of times we use sugar to round out the flavor of Thai dishes. But for Thai garlic pepper pork, it's better to use sweet soy sauce it helps us achieve that nice dark brown color sugar won't.