Thai snacks – Sweet & Savoury Tapioca Dumplings | Saku Sai Moo | Khao Krieb Pak Mor

Since moving back to Thailand after nearly 20 years of living in Sydney, many things I see around here have been reminding me of my childhood. Whilst browsing a food market the other day, I walked past a stall that took me back in time. My mum ran a business near a mall called The Old Siam in Bangkok about 25 years ago and my siblings and I would spend a lot of time there every Saturday. I remember often running to a little stall in the mall for snacks, asking for a box of half khao krieb pak mor and half saku sai moo – the aunty at the stall probably knew my order before I said anything! I had completely forgotten they were one of my favourite snacks growing up and couldn’t recall what they tasted like. I decided to buy a box at the market, half and half just like the old days.

Rows of colourful pillowy dumplings sat next to semi translucent balls on oiled banana leaves at the front of the store. One shop keeper busily worked the steamer while the other scooped a few from each pile and packed them neatly into a box, sprinkling fried garlic on top and garnishing it with small fresh chillies and lettuce. I bit into one, surprised by the nutty, sweet and salty filling. The wrapping, soft and slightly chewy. I followed it with a bite of salad and another bite of chilli to cut the richness of the flavour. As I worked through the box I came to answer a question I previously had about why khao krieb pak mor and saku sai moo always seem to be sold together, it’s because they share the same fillings!

The name khao krieb pak mor may be confusing to some as khao krieb is often associated with crispy rice crackers. It was thought that the name came to be as the appearance of the steaming bubbling batter resembles that of a Thai rice cracker called khao krieb wao. Pak mor translates to the mouth of a pot, which is where the snack is traditionally cooked. A wet white cloth is stretched over the opening of a pot and secured with multiple rubber bands and pulled until taut. A slit is then cut on one side, acting as a slot to refill water and also for some steam to escape. This functions as a smooth and non-stick surface for thinly applying the rice, tapioca and taro flour mixture on, becoming soft and delicate wrappings for khao krieb pak mor.

Saku sai moo which translates to ‘sago with pork filling’ may seem more like a straight forward name, however due to the ever increasing price of pork, many stores actually omit pork from their fillings nowadays. So what’s inside without the pork? The most common filling I’ve found recently is a stir fried mixture of sam klur (pounded coriander root, garlic and peppercorn), shallots, chai poh (preserved sweet radish), roasted peanuts, palm sugar and soy sauce. Here’s a full recipe made with pork – Thai Pork and Tapioca Dumplings Recipe. Traditionally this filling would be wrapped around with sago pearls, however due to the scarcity of the ingredient small tapioca pearls have long replaced them. Once balled, they are placed on the cloth and steamed until cooked and the pearls turn translucent.

Just like other traditional Thai food and snacks, recipes shift and change with time. Apparently the first inception of saku sai moo came about during the reign of King Rama I. The story was that he loved eating monitor lizard eggs and a Laotian concubine had invented a snack to imitate them to make offerings to him. A filling of mung bean paste was used to create a slightly yellow centre to mimic the yolk which was wrapped in a mix of sago and glutinous rice flour that turned translucent when steamed. This was eaten with coconut milk poured over the top to add the same richness and creaminess an egg would provide. The Royal Kitchen later worked the recipe and replaced mung bean paste with a pork mixture accompanied by vegetable sides which became a popular snack.