Mainland Southeast Asia · Volume 40, One Bank to the Other

Jeow bong

Name: Jeow bong
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Makes about 1 litre
Cuisine: Isaan and Laos
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

Luang Prabang, Laos

Jeow bong, Luang Prabang's sweet and savoury dried chilli relish with pork skin: a small dark bowl of thick, deep red-brown chilli relish, a faint sheen of oil on its surface, a few strands of shredded pork skin visible in the paste.

An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.

Time: 1 hour

Researched: Researched from 127 sources in the brief, none yet linked in the text
Reviewed: Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
Cooked: Not yet cooked and reported

Distinguished from the wider jeow family by shredded water buffalo or pork skin worked through it for texture.

As tradition built it

Makes about 1 litre. Prep 30 minutes, plus a 1-hour shrimp soak, cook 30 minutes.

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

Pound the chillies, garlic, shallots, galangal and kaffir lime leaves together to a coarse paste.
Fry the paste in the vegetable oil until fragrant and beginning to darken.
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.
Season with fish sauce, padaek, sugar, salt and the reserved shrimp stock, adjusting to a balance of sweet, salty and savoury.
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

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.
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.
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.

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