Northern Thai Nam Prik Ong
Spicy tomato dip with minced meat
There is one type of Thai food that I have not yet discovered much, namely dips or relishes. I wanted to change that and last week I tried a “Nam Prik Ong” ( น้ำพริกอ่อง). This is a tomato dip with minced meat from northern Thailand. I had already made a Nam Prik Ong last year using a recipe fromSerious Eats prepared, but it didn’t really convince me at the time.
The part of the name “Nam Prik” can be translated simply as “chili sauce”, which also explains why the name “Nam Prik Plaa” for chilies marinated in fish sauce, as found on the table in many Thai restaurants, also begins with “Nam Prik”. The preparation of such a dip is somewhat reminiscent of the preparation of a curry paste, because here too the ingredients are first mixed in alarge mortar processed into a paste, which then forms the basis for the rest of the dish. And as with curry pastes, shrimp paste is also an important ingredient that gives the dip umami flavor.
An unusual ingredient in Nam Prik Ong is the addition of small tomatoes to the paste. In Thailand, these tomatoes are not nearly as sweet as they are here and are meant to give the whole thing a sour, even slightly bitter component. So you can use the cheap, slightly unripe cherry tomatoes from the supermarket, which are usually too sour.
Sticky rice, raw vegetables or hard-boiled eggs are then dipped into the finished Nam Prik Ong. In our case, we had two hard-boiled eggs and raw snake beans as well as steamed and rawThai eggplants which we could dip into the Nam Prik Ong.
Ingredients for two Persons
- 200g cocktail tomatoes (preferably unripe)
- 300g minced pork
- 10 dried chilis
- a pinch of coarse sea salt
- 3 tbsp shredded lemongrass
- 2 small shallots
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1½ tsp shrimp past
- 1 tsp palm sugar or brown sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Preparation
First, the dried chilies should be soaked in lukewarm water for about twenty minutes. This waiting time can be bridged by peeling the shallots and garlic cloves and then cutting them into large pieces. The tomatoes can then be quickly washed, drained and quartered.
As soon as the chilies are soft, dry them thoroughly and then put them in the mortar with a pinch of sea salt. The salt should be as coarse as possible to help crush all the ingredients. Now crush the chilies thoroughly. Then put the lemongrass, shallots and garlic into the mortar one after the other and crush them together with the other ingredients until you have a coarse paste.
Stir the shrimp paste into this paste until it is evenly distributed, then add the tomatoes to the paste mixture and carefully press the pieces with the pestle of the mortar without mashing them; this will happen automatically later when cooking.
Now heat the oil in a wok or pan and fry the paste with the tomatoes for several minutes until it smells fragrant. Then add the minced meat and let it simmer in the paste until it is cooked through, making sure that no large lumps of meat form.
Then season the whole thing with fish sauce and palm sugar and let it simmer for a few minutes. If the whole thing becomes too dry, add a little water. But it shouldn’t be too moist, just enough so that you can easily dip the vegetables in it.
Finally, pour the finished Nam Prik Ong into one or more small bowls and serve with the vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces.