Image: Moo nam tok

Description: Mu nam tok (Thai: หมูน้ำตก): nam tok means waterfall in Thai, mu is pork. The dish is originally from northeastern Thailand (Isan). There are several explanations why this dish is called this way and none are satisfactory. A plausible theory is that the meat should still contain blood, which will run out from it, when sliced, as a waterfall. The version shown is the quick version where sliced pork is cooked shortly and then mixed in with the spicy sauce and herbs. The more elaborate version calls for the pork to be grilled first until pink and then sliced and mixed in with the sauce and herbs. The last version is correctly called mu yang nam tok (Thai: ย่าง, yang = grilled). You can also find nuea nam tok and nuea yang nam tok using beef instead of pork. The sauce is made with ground roasted rice, ground dried chillies, fish sauce, lime juice, shallots and mint leaves. This one also features some spring onions. It is traditionally eaten with sticky rice.
Title: Moo nam tok
Credit: Own work
Author: Takeaway
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
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