Thai Pork & Ginger Rice Soup with Fried Garlic Oil

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A gingery, brothy bowl built for leftover jasmine rice. Seasoned pork meatballs poach right in the broth, a soft egg slides in at the end, and everything gets showered with crackling fried garlic oil, scallions and cilantro. Twenty-five minutes from fridge to a bowl that tastes like a Bangkok breakfast stall.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup neutral oil, such as canola or rice bran
• 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

• 1 lb ground pork
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp cilantro stems, finely chopped
• 1 tsp granulated sugar

• 7 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
• 2 tbsp preserved radish (chai poh), rinsed and chopped, optional
• 3 cups cooked jasmine rice, preferably day-old
• 2 tbsp fish sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs

• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• Sliced Thai chiles in fish sauce or chili oil, for serving

Instructions

1. Make the garlic oil first: combine the 1/3 cup oil and 8 sliced garlic cloves in a small cold skillet or saucepan. Set over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, 5 to 7 minutes, until the garlic turns pale straw-gold. Pull it off the heat the moment it looks light blond — it keeps browning in the hot oil. Immediately pour oil and garlic into a heatproof bowl and set aside.
2. Mix the meatballs: in a bowl, combine the ground pork, minced garlic, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 teaspoon white pepper, cornstarch, chopped cilantro stems and 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir vigorously with a fork or your hand for about 1 minute, until the mixture turns slightly sticky and pastelike — this makes the meatballs bouncy rather than crumbly. Refrigerate while you start the broth.
3. Bring the chicken broth to a simmer in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ginger matchsticks and the preserved radish if using, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook 8 minutes so the broth turns fragrant and clearly gingery.
4. Roll the pork into small meatballs, about 1 tablespoon each (you should get 20 to 24), and drop them into the simmering broth as you go. Simmer 5 to 6 minutes, until they float and are cooked through (165°F at the center). Skim any foam from the surface.
5. Rinse the day-old rice briefly under cool water in a strainer and shake it dry — this loosens the clumps so the grains stay separate in the soup. Add the rice to the pot along with 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 1 teaspoon sugar. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes, just until the grains are heated through and swollen but still hold their shape. Taste and add more fish sauce if needed; the broth should be brothy and savory, not thick.
6. Reduce the heat so the soup barely trembles. Crack the eggs one at a time into a small cup and slip each into the pot, spacing them apart. Cover and poach 3 minutes for a fully runny yolk, 4 minutes for jammy. Do not stir.
7. Ladle the soup into 4 wide bowls, sliding one egg into each with a slotted spoon and dividing the meatballs and rice evenly.
8. Finish each bowl with a spoonful of the fried garlic and its oil, a generous handful of scallions and cilantro, and a pinch of white pepper. Serve with lime wedges and chiles in fish sauce so everyone can adjust at the table.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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