Jeow bong

As tradition built it

Makes about 1 litre. Prep 30 minutes, plus 1 hour to soak the shrimp, plus 30 minutes to cook.

Ingredients

• 30 dried red chillies
• 30 fresh red bullet chillies
• 20 green or red long chillies
• 5 heads garlic
• 10 shallots
• 15 cm galangal
• 20 kaffir lime leaves
• 2 cups dried shrimp, rehydrated 1 hour
• 250 g pork skin, shredded
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp padaek
• 3 tbsp raw sugar
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 3 tbsp shrimp stock (from the soaking liquid)
• 2 tbsp infused oil
• 750 ml vegetable oil, for frying
• to taste coriander, to garnish

Method

1. Pound the chillies, garlic, shallots, galangal and kaffir lime leaves together to a coarse paste.
2. Fry the paste in the vegetable oil until fragrant and beginning to darken.
3. Add the rehydrated dried shrimp and shredded pork skin, and continue frying, about 30 minutes in total, until the mixture is deeply savoury and the oil has separated slightly.
4. Season with fish sauce, padaek, sugar, salt and the reserved shrimp stock, adjusting to a balance of sweet, salty and savoury.
5. Finish with the infused oil, and garnish with coriander to serve, alongside sticky rice or as a dip for raw vegetables.

What a modern chef changes

The paste's own fry given the same care as a curry base

Rung 1

Method

1. Pound the aromatic paste in stages, hardest ingredients first, exactly as with tam mak hoong above, rather than blitzing it all at once in a blender, for a rougher, more textured finished relish.
2. Fry the paste at a lower, longer, more controlled heat, watching for the oil to separate as the true sign it is ready, rather than working to a fixed time.
3. Grind the dried chillies fresh in the dedicated spice grinder before pounding, for a brighter, less musty base note than pre-ground chilli flakes carry.