''Mu kratha'' (, , ) is a

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n cooking method, originating in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. In Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Myanmar it is known as mookata. In Laos, it is known as sindad ().

History

''Mu kratha'' means 'pan pork' in Thai (''mu'' is 'pig' or 'pork' and ''kratha'' is 'pan' or 'skillet'). ''Mu kratha'' resembles a combined

Korean barbecue Korean barbecue () is a popular method in Korean cuisine of grilling meat, typically beef, pork or chicken. Such dishes are often prepared on gas or charcoal grills built into the dining table itself, though some restaurants provide customers wi ...

and a Japanese or Chinese

hot pot Hot pot ( zh, c=, s=wikt:火锅, 火锅, t=wikt:火鍋, 火鍋, p=huǒguō, l=fire pot, first=t) or hotpot, also known as steamboat, is a dish (food), dish of soup/stock (food), stock kept simmering in a cooking pot, pot by a heat source on ...

.Songkaeo, Thammika (28 August 2014) . ''Makansutra''. Retrieved 3 December 2018. The Thai version uses charcoal. The dining concept spread throughout Thailand and into

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, Indonesia and Singapore.

Preparation and serving

Sliced meat (most often pork) is grilled on the dome in the centre while the vegetables and other ingredients, such as fish balls, cook in the soup (also called ''

Thai suki Thai suki, known simply as suki (, ) in Thailand, is a Thai cuisine, Thai variant of hot pot, a communal dish where diners dip meat, seafood, noodles, dumplings and vegetables into a pot of broth cooking at the table and dip it into a spicy "suk ...

''). The hot pot sits on a pail of burning charcoal which grills or boils the food. The best foods for this cooking method are pork, chicken, mutton, lamb, seafood, vegetables, and mushrooms. The local traditional Thai ''mu kratha'' is usually served with ''nam chim suki'', a popular dipping sauce. It is well known for using chili sauce as the main ingredient. Some restaurants serve ''nam chim seafood'' to accompany seafood. When cooking ''mu kratha'', a chunk of fat is commonly grilled at the apex of the pan to prevent food from sticking.

In popular culture

Thailand has many ''mu kratha'' restaurants as it is easy to prepare and suits a variety of foods.

References

Thai cuisine Table-cooked dishes Pork dishes Barbecue National dishes Korean fusion cuisine Hot pot {{Thai-cuisine-stub

History

Preparation and serving

In popular culture

See also

References