Crispy Pork Rice or Khao Moo Grob - you gotta have this

This is one of my go-to dishes, especially for late night food or when I can't decide what I want to eat. Sometimes it is so hot that nothing sounds appetizing and since there is one of these places nearby, I eat it a lot.

Khao Moo Grob ข้าวหมูกรอบ

Khao means "rice"
Moo means "pork"
Grob means "crispy"
Easy right?

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There are lots of different ways that this can be prepared and basically it is just a specially prepared pork belly that is fried in a specific way so that the exterior is crunchy while the interior is tender. Mostly it gets served with a few vegetables but not many because the pork is the main attraction here.

This can be obtained anywhere that you see the crispy pork hanging in the window or sitting in the display case and unless you are somewhere in the south where there is a high Muslim population I can promise you won't be looking for very long to find a street stall that sells it. However, it is unlikely to look like the professional picture above.

This is far more representative of what you will receive for around 40-50 Baht (around $1.50) and it comes with a side of soup in most instances. My photo doesn't look nearly as appetizing as the first one but I was very hungry and this was not the time to try to get a perfect shot.

Normally it comes with 2 separate sauces, one is mildly spicy the other is sweet. I don't have any idea what is in them but I will say this, take it easy on the sweet one because like a lot of things here, the Thais tend to go much sweeter than a westerner would.

It is a shame that so much plastic goes into this but to be honest I can't think of any other way that they could cheaply make this take-away-able. I reuse the bags as much as I can.

I would imagine that Thai restaurants in the west feature this dish but when i was back visiting the states I went to try to find pork belly to make some Korean food for my parents and had a very difficult time finding any. I was in a small town though so I guess it should have been expected. Oh, and if you do find it in a Thai restaurant in the U.S. or Europe i can guarantee that it won't be $1.50 :P

So if you do find yourself in Thailand and you pass by a street stall that has some fried pork belly in the window, get some of it. I promise you wont regret it!