Who would have thought that one day an adorable Thai hippo baby named Moo Deng would become a global sensation? But here we are. As you may know, he is silent. is actually the name of a Thai food, so I thought I’d share mine he is silent. recipe because it is an easy, tasty and versatile pork meatball that you can add to many dishes.
What is he is silent.?
Moo means pork, e deng means bouncy and refers to a kind of bouncy pork balls that we put in various dishes, typically noodle soups, including the viral tom yum instant noodles, pictured below. Sometimes, the pork is formed into patties instead of balls.
Some non-Thai media outlets reported this incorrectly he is silent. means “bouncing pig”, which I suppose is correct on paper, but not in practice. It’s a classic case of “lost in translation” because in Thai, bellow means both pork and pig (in the same way that “chicken” refers to both the animal and the meat). But he is silent. it’s a food!
Ingredients and notes
Here are the ingredients you will need he is silent. and some important notes about them. It’s very simple! For amounts see full recipe card below
- White peppercorns
- Garlic
- Ground porkpreferably not lean for the best consistency.
- I’m willowuse Thai soy sauce for the authentic flavor, but other types of soy sauce are fine without it.
- Fish sauce. See this post on choosing good quality fish sauce.
- Sugar
- A small ice cubeoptional.
- Food processor. Ideally, you’ll also need a food processor for the right consistency and to get that elasticity, although small is fine. If you don’t have one, you can still make it and it will be tasty, but the texture will be coarser and it won’t bounce.
How to Moo Deng
Here’s a bird’s eye view of how to make moo deng. Like all other meatballs, you can prepare them in advance and freeze them!
- Pound the garlic and pepper into a paste (not shown). Add the pork, garlic paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and an ice cube to a food processor.
- Form the pork into a smooth paste: the smoother it is, the more elastic the meatballs will be. Without a food processor, mix all the ingredients well with your hands.
- Form balls with gloved hands. Without gloves, wetting your hands will prevent the pork from sticking to them.
- Cook them in boiling water for about 2 minutes or until cooked through. Fish them out and they are now ready to add to any noodle soup or any dish you want, or you can freeze them for another day.
Pro Tip: Save cooking water.
After cooking the meatballs, the cooking water will also have a lot of flavor and can be used as a base for many Thai soups, especially noodle soups. So if you are making moo deng for noodle soups, definitely save this water for your soup. And for more ideas, here are my Thai soup recipes.
Conservation and advance preparation
Moo Deng are great to have in your fridge/freezer as they provide easy and delicious protein for a weeknight meal. Here are some options for making moo deng ahead of time.
- Cook the moo deng and then freeze them fully cooked. Then simply boil for a few minutes to heat them up and add them to your meal.
- Prepare the pork mixture, form into balls and then freeze them raw. If you don’t have time to cook them before freezing, you can freeze them raw, but this requires a little more work since you’ll have to freeze them on a tray without them touching, then combine the frozen meatballs in a container. When they are ready to cook, you can first defrost them or boil them directly from frozen.
- Prepare the pork mixture in advance and store it in the refrigerator for a few days. If you don’t have time to roll and cook them, but want to get ahead a little, you can simply mix the meat mixture and refrigerate up to 2 days ahead (assuming your ground pork is fresh!). You can freeze the meat mixture, but freeze it in a flat disk so it doesn’t take long to defrost.
What dishes can you put Moo Deng in?
Moo deng is not a standalone dish, as you can probably tell, although to be honest, if you cook them and serve them with nam jim seafood or sweet chilli sauce, it would make a fantastic starter! But here are some dishes in which you can serve moo deng.
Explore my Thai soup recipes for more ideas, and really, add them to anything you can imagine!
Moo Deng Recipe – Thai Bouncy Pork Meatballs
Where is it located it’s not just a baby hippo! This refers to the Thai bouncy pork balls that we typically add to noodle soups, but you can add them to any dish you like. They are very easy and can be frozen.
Ingredients
Discover the ingredients and kitchen utensils I use
All of my recipes come with step by step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so be sure to watch the video to ensure success. If you like them, consider subscribing to the YouTube channel so you never miss an episode. Thank you!
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Instructions
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Bring a pan of water to the boil to cook the meatballs. Meanwhile, pound the garlic and peppercorns into a paste in a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, finely grind the pepper and grate or press the garlic into a paste.
¼ teaspoon white peppercorns, 1 clove of garlic
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Add the ground pork to a food processor and add the pepper and garlic paste, all the seasonings and a small ice cube. Blend until the pork resembles a paste, which should only take 15-20 seconds. It doesn’t have to be super smooth. Scrape down sides as needed.*If you don’t have a food processor, simply mix all the meatball ingredients well with your hands. The texture of the meatballs will be rougher, but will still be tasty.
9 ounces ground pork, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon fish sauce, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 small ice cube
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With gloved hands, roll the pork into balls, about ½ inch in diameter. If you don’t have gloves, wet your hands to prevent the meat from sticking to your hands.
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Once the water boils, add the meatballs to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes or until cooked through. Remove it with a slotted spoon and it’s ready to add to all kinds of dishes, especially noodle soups!
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