Recipes

Spicy Pork Steak Salad

Moo Nam Tok / Moo Yang Nam Tok

Thin-sliced grilled pork tossed with toasted rice powder, chili, and fresh herbs

Prep

15 min

Cook

10 min

Serves

4

Heat

hot

Nam Tok takes its name from the way juices run off the meat as it grills over an open flame, and that smoky char is the foundation this salad builds on. Grilled rare, then sliced thin and simmered briefly in a mixture of fish sauce, lime, and ground dried chili, the pork finishes cooking gently in its own dressing rather than on the grill alone. Toasted ground rice, stirred in at the end, thickens the dressing while adding a nutty crunch, and the meat cools nearly to room temperature before a generous handful of shallot, mint, and cilantro get folded in — just enough to combine without wilting the herbs into mush.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Pork tenderloin, small steaks
• 4 tablespoons Toasted ground white rice (chunky, not fine)
• 4 teaspoons Sun-dried Thai chili (toasted and ground)
• 1 cup Spearmint leaves (a few reserved for garnish)
• 1/2 cup Red shallots (sliced, a few reserved for garnish)
• 7 Coriander/cilantro leaves (a few reserved for garnish)
• 3 Green onions (sliced, a few reserved for garnish)
• 7 Sun-dried Thai hot chili, whole (for garnish)
• 3 teaspoons Lime juice
• 2 tablespoons Fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons Light soy sauce

Directions

1. If you don't already have toasted ground rice, toast raw long grain rice in a dry wok over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Cool, then grind coarsely with a mortar and pestle — it should stay chunky, not fine.
2. Toast the whole dried chilies in the same dry wok until fragrant, being careful not to burn them. Grind some into a rough powder, saving the rest whole for garnish.
3. Grill the pork steaks until rare to medium — don't overcook, since they finish cooking again in the sauce. Let cool completely, then slice into thin strips.
4. Slice the shallots and green onion, and pick the mint and cilantro leaves. Set aside a portion of each for garnish.
5. Heat a splash of water in a small saucepan until boiling. Add the sliced pork, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, and ground chili. Stir well and let it get hot again, then stir in the ground rice and remove from heat.
6. Let the mixture cool and thicken into a texture like a thick salad dressing, adding a little more water if needed.
7. Once the meat is nearly cold, stir in the shallots, cilantro, green onion, and mint, mixing just enough to combine without turning the herbs to mush.
8. Serve on plates, topped with the reserved shallot, cilantro, green onion, and mint. Sprinkle with a little extra ground rice, add a few drops of lime juice, and lay the whole dried chilies on top.
9. Serve with sticky rice or jasmine rice, alongside a plate of raw cabbage, green beans, cucumber, and spring onion.

Notes

Grill the pork only to rare or medium and let it finish in the hot dressing afterward — it gets a second round of gentle cooking there, so starting undercooked is by design, not a mistake.

Substitutions

Beef works well in place of pork, grilled rare, following the same method. A kitchen grill pan gets close to the traditional charcoal flavor if an outdoor grill isn't available.