Authentic Moo Pa Lo (Thai Braised Pork Belly)
Thai Moo Pa Lo is a traditional Thai dish made with braised pork belly, hardboiled eggs, and fried tofu, braised to perfection in a flavorful soy-based sauce infused with Chinese five-spice powder and aromatic herbs.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 45 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 5-6 eggs, chicken or duck eggs are both excellent
- 1+1/2 lb pork belly, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1/4 cup cilantro stems, chopped into 1-inch pieces.
- 5 large cloves of garlic, leave whole for pounding into a paste.
- 1 tsp whole white peppercorns
- 5 cup water
- 3 oz cooked fried puffy tofu. Find these in the Asian market. Recipe coming soon!
- 1 tsp five-spice powder
- 3 star anise
- 5 whole cloves
- 2 cinnamon sticks (4-inch pieces)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
- 1/3 cup palm sugar
- 1+1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- 1
Make the hardboiled eggs. Boil the eggs for 5 minutes or until the eggs are firm, peel them, and set them aside. They will be cooked further in the stew, so there's no need to cook it too long.
- 2
Make the seasoning paste. Add garlic, cilantro stems, and white peppercorns to a mortar and pestle, and pound until you have a rough paste.
- 3
Add the sliced pork belly to a soup pot and sear on medium-high heat until lightly golden brown. This searing step helps extract more flavors from the meat and secretes oil from the pork fat. Remove the pork pieces from the pot, set aside, and leave some pork oil to cook the paste next. *See the note below about pork belly fat.
- 4
Add the paste to about 1 tablespoon of pork oil on medium heat and stir together until fragrant. 30-60 seconds only. Add the pork belly back in and stir until all the pieces are well coasted.
- 5
Add the water, all the sauces, salt, palm sugar, five-spice powder, and whole spices. Bring to a gentle boil.
- 6
Add the boiled eggs and fried tofu. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover it, and allow it to simmer for 40-45 minutes or until the pork belly becomes melt-in-your-mouth tender, absorbing all the rich flavors.
- 7
Before turning the heat off, adjust the flavors to your liking with more sugar, five-spice powder, or soy sauce. That's it! Garnish and finish it off with a sprinkle of fresh coriander leaves.