Known in Thailand as moo kratha, the experience of eating this hot pot grill combo among some Thai friends is unmissable. It’s the ultimate Thai dinner party.
Having talked with many Thais and people who lived in Thailand while in other countries, they’ll often tell me moo kratha is one of the things they miss most about being home. In fact, many Thais go out of their way to find an electric hot pot grill combo that performs a similar function to the charcoal version found in Thailand.
What is Moo Kratha?
‘Moo’ means pork, and a ‘kratha’ is a special skillet that has a grill in the middle perched upon a dome, surrounded by 2-inch deep sides in which you cook soup. So moo kratha (หมูกระทะ) literally means pork skillet, but it’s actually a combination of grilled meats and soup.
Pork is not even a strictly essential meat to use in moo kratha. In fact, any protein is good, from shrimps to white fish to chicken to tofu.
The soup is typically a simple broth to which you add some mushrooms and green vegetables like bok choi or water spinach.
The spike in flavor for both soup and meat comes from a special spicy dipping sauce known as nam jim suki. You can easily find this sauce in most Asian markets.
What is the Best Hot Pot Grill Combo?
I searched far and wide for a good electric version of the traditional clay kratha used in Thailand to gift my Thai partner. This resulted in a couple of returns to different companies because the products were honestly quite poor.
Thankfully, I then stumbled upon a company named TomYang. They make by far the best hot pot grill combo I have seen outside of Thailand. This electric hotpot with BBQ grill offers a genuine moo kratha experience.
The grill is constructed with a Swiss coating that makes it fantastically easy to clean. The temperature is easy to control and it heats up quickly.
The set comes with tableware, including bowls for dipping sauces, wooden pliers to safely handle raw meat and place onto the grill, and bowls and spoons. There’s also shopping list and recipes for making the authentic thing, just like you get in Thailand. It’s pretty much the ultimate portable moo kratha kit.
The TomYang grill is sturdy and durable and the grill part is dishwasher-safe. Unfortunately, for any Americans reading this, the TomYang grill is not available on the US version of Amazon.
Fret not, though. Having talked to a Thai friend living in Boston, he informed me that a company named Sonya makes what he considers to be the best hot pot grill combo he’s found in America.
The product is marketed as a shabu-shabu appliance. But this is just a Japanese term that means to cook thinly sliced protein in a hotpot and serve with dipping sauces.
The only difference between shabu shabu and moo kratha is the addition of the grill to the latter. But Sonya’s product actually has a grill in the center so it’s perfectly suitable for this purpose.
In even better news for US readers, the Sonya hotpot and grill is quite a bit cheaper than the TomYang version I got in Europe. Happy days. It’s always nice to save a few bucks.
Conclusion
Whether you’re in Europe or the US, I hope this page proves a useful resource for those of you interested in recreating the quintessential Thai moo kratha experience. Both the TomYang and Sonya products are excellent and I stand by my recommendations for them.
Make sure you check out my Thai cookware essentials page for more recommendations on kitting out your kitchen to cook tasty Thai food.