Moo Daet Diao or Thai Style Pork Jerky

Moo Daet Diao (literally, a day of sunshine pork) is Thai style pork jerky. We have two different kinds of pork and beef jerky in Thailand, the first one we can find in China town, on Yaowarach road, this one we don’t call Moo Daet Diao but it is called Moo Pen, means pork sheets, this Moo Pen is sweet jerky. Pork and beef jerky in China town, Bangkok has been selling for nearly hundred years and has been very popular. I remember when I was a child living in Southern Thailand, every Chinese New Year my young adult brother or sister who worked in Bangkok would come home and bring us pork jerky in the red bright colourful tins. Nowadays you can find pork and beef jerky from China town at the luxury shopping centers in Bangkok or other big cities and also it is one of the most popular souvenirs for the tourists who visit China town in Bangkok.

The other one, Moo Daet Diao, is normally found at Som Tum vendors or Issan style restaurants. Som Tum or Papaya salad is one of Issan or North-Eastern Thai food so it is understood that Moo Daet Diao is Issan or North-Eastern Thai food. North-Eastern of Thailand is a biggest part of the country and is a flat land, growing rice is main economic activity, and majority of population are farmers. This Moo Daet Diao is perfect food for the farmers base on the style of work in the field all day and tropical climate which is warm all round year so they need the food that will not go bad easily, and they use a few ingredients like fish sauce and salt as the preservatives and flavour.

And for restaurants and street vendors, they develop the simple Moo Daet Diao from upcountry to be more cities’ style with more flavour and taste by adding more kinds and differences of ingredients.

Ingredients

1 kg.              Pork lion, cut into long stripes about ½ inch x ½ inch thick

3 cloves         Garlic, chopped fine

2 tsps            Ground black pepper

3 tsps            Coriander seeds, roughly crushed

4 tbsps          Sugar or Honey

½ tbsp           Salt

2 tbsps          Soy sauce

3 tbsps          Oyster sauce

2 tbsps          Vegetable oil (add this oil if using roasting in oven method)

Vegetable oil for deep frying (deep-frying method)

Instruction

1. Marinate pork with garlic, ground pepper, coriander seeds, sugar or honey, salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce and 2 tbsps oil (add oil in marinade if you bake it in oven) marinate over night in the fridge.
2. Spread on a rack and dry in the sun for a few hours and deep fry in hot oil until nice brown colour. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. OR
3. Bake in oven at 70 °C/160 °F for 3 -4 hours or until cooked.
4. Serve with steamed sticky rice.