I've been to Thailand a bunch of times and they truly do have some of the best food in the world. I usually eat cashew chicken every day while I am there. The reason? It's never the same wherever you get it. There are so many versions of it and I love them all! But my favorite appetizer/snack is the delicious crispy Thai pork toast. I always saw people eating this but I never knew what it was. Finally I asked about it, took a chance and ordered it. Mind blown. It was everything I wanted in a fried appetizer.
For crispy Thai Pork Toast it's Easy: Season the pork and fry it on white bread
All you need is ground pork, white bread, garlic, cilantro, soy sauce, cornstarch, salt, oil and eggs. These are cheap, readily available ingredients and you probably already have some of them in your kitchen. The funny thing about this recipe is that I am going to recommend cheap white bread.
If you read my blog regularly (and I'm sure you do), you know that I am always waxing poetic about the importance of high-quality bread when making a gourmet sandwich. Well, I'm turning the tables with this recipe. Cheap, store-brand white bread will be just fine for this one.
These are great for snacks or to serve as an appetizer when you have people over for dinner. Also, you can freeze them and pull them out later! They re-heat great right in the toaster oven. Done it many times.
A couple of tips for this one: these need to cool down before you serve them. Don't eat them right out of the pan - you will get burned. When you take them out of the oil, you must transfer them to a paper towel lined plate or sheet pan. I photographed them on a wire rack, but I first rested them on paper towel. You do want some of that oil pulled out of the bottom of the toast, so you don't get that too-oily flavor. This is important.
If you're looking for other appetizer recipes you should check out my Warm Shrimp and Gorgonzola Dip or Tomato Bruschetta.
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Delicious Crispy Thai Pork Toast
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 36 mini pork toasts 1x
Description
Looking for a unique appetizer for your next dinner party? This Delicious Crispy Thai Pork Toast is easy to make and you can freeze 'em too!
Ingredients
- ½ pound ground pork
- 1 ½ tablespoons diced cilantro stems
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (plus a splash)
- 1 large garlic clove, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 9 slices plain white bread
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Vegetable oil (for frying)
Instructions
- Lay out 9 slices of white bread on a large cutting board or sheet pan and let it sit out for about one hour so the air can dry out the bread a bit.
- Slice the crusts off all the bread. Then cut each piece of bread into four squares. You can stack two slices of bread on top of each other to get through this faster. Each square represents one piece of Thai pork toast.
- Finely dice your garlic.
- Finely dice your cilantro stems. (not the green leaves, the stems)
- Beat your eggs.
- Put the ground pork in a bowl, add corn starch, garlic, cilantro stems, salt and soy sauce. Mix very thoroughly until everything is well combined.
- Lay out all your bread squares on a sheet pan and start spooning the pork mixture on each piece. Once you put the mixture on the bread press down gently with your spoon.
- Once all the pork mixture is on the bread, take one cilantro leaf and press it gently on top of the pork. Do this for all the pieces.
- Heat oil in a pan, about ½ inch of oil. You don’t want it too deep because the pork toast should NOT be submerged in oil when frying.
- When the oil is ready, take a piece of your Thai pork toast and dip only the pork side in the egg, then place the toast pork side down in the oil. Fill the pan with the pork toast. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on the pork side, then turn the toast and cook about 30 seconds on the other side - until the bread is crispy. This happens fast so pay attention here. As you pull out the pork toast put them on a paper towel-lined plate or sheet pan for best results. They need to cool down a few minutes before eating and you want some of the oil from the bottom of the bread absorbed in the paper towel.
- You can eat them plain or with sriracha sauce. They are awesome either way! Enjoy!
Notes
- My camera shut off so I didn’t have a clip where I added the salt to the pork mixture. That’s why you don’t see it in the video.
- When you remove the toast from oil pan -- transfer them to a paper towel lined plate or sheet pan. You do want some of that oil pulled out of the bottom of the toast so you don't get that too-oily flavor. This is important.
- If you decided to freeze some here’s how you reheat. Take them out of the freezer and put on your toaster oven tray. Heat at 300 for 10-15 minutes . I do place a sheet of tin foil on top so they don’t burn. I don't wrap them, I just lay the foil on top loosely. Remove the foil for the last five minutes of cooking. Place the pork toast on paper towel to drain any oil. Eat!
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