Lanna Roasted Chili Paste (Jaew Bong)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy granite mortar and pestle (krok hin)
• •Charcoal grill or gas burner for roasting
• •Small saucepan or wok for simmering
• •Small pot for boiling pork skin

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil the pork skin

   Place the pork skin in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the skin is soft enough to cut with a spoon but still has chew. It shouldn't be falling apart. Drain, reserving about half a cup of the cooking liquid. Let the skin cool enough to handle, then slice it into very thin strips, about 1 inch long and as thin as you can manage. The thinner the strips, the better they integrate into the paste. Set aside.

   Don't rush the boil. Undercooked pork skin is rubbery and won't shred properly. You want tender with a slight chew, not crunchy, not mushy. Test it at 30 minutes. If your knife slides through easily, it's done.
2. 2

   Roast the aromatics

   While the pork skin simmers, set up your roasting. Charcoal is traditional and gives the best smoke. A gas flame works. A dry cast iron pan on high heat is your backup. Roast the dried chilies first: press them flat on the grill or pan and turn frequently until they darken two shades and become brittle, about 2-3 minutes. They go from fragrant to burnt in seconds, so watch them. Next, roast the unpeeled garlic cloves and shallots until the skins are charred black and the insides are completely soft, 8-10 minutes, turning occasionally. Roast the galangal slices until they're charred at the edges and softened, about 5-6 minutes. The kitchen should smell like a Chiang Mai cool-season bonfire. Peel the garlic and shallots once they're cool enough to handle.

   The char is intentional. That blackened skin on the garlic and shallots is smokiness you're building into the paste. Don't be afraid of color. Roast until the skins are genuinely charred. The flesh inside stays sweet and soft.
3. 3

   Pound the kreung tam

   Start with the roasted dried chilies in your granite mortar (krok hin). Pound them first because they're the driest and hardest ingredient. Break them down into rough flakes, not powder. You want texture. Add a pinch of salt as an abrasive to help the pounding. Next, add the roasted galangal and pound it into the chili. Galangal is fibrous even when roasted, so this takes effort. Keep pounding until the fibers break down and it integrates with the chili. Then the roasted garlic and shallots. These are soft and will meld quickly. Pound everything into a rough, coarse paste. Not smooth. Jaew bong has texture. You should still see distinct flecks of chili and strands of galangal fiber. The color should be deep brick red with dark flecks from the char.

   Krok ก่อน, krok ก่อน. The mortar transforms. The galangal is the hardest part. It's fibrous even roasted. Keep at it. Your arm will know when the paste is right because it will be tired.
4. 4

   Combine and simmer

   Transfer the pounded paste to a small saucepan or wok over low heat. Add the palm sugar, fish sauce, and 3 tablespoons of the reserved pork skin cooking liquid. Stir until the palm sugar dissolves completely. The paste will loosen slightly and become glossy. Now fold in the shredded pork skin. Stir gently to distribute the strips evenly throughout the paste. Let it simmer on the lowest heat for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. The paste will thicken as the sugar caramelizes slightly and the pork skin absorbs the flavors. It should be thick, sticky, and cohesive, not watery, not stiff.

5. 5

   Taste and adjust

   Take it off the heat. Taste. The balance should be: sweet first (this is a notably sweet nam prik, that's correct, not a mistake), then smoky heat, then salt from the fish sauce. If it's not sweet enough, add more palm sugar. If the salt is weak, a splash more fish sauce. If the paste is too thick, a tablespoon more cooking liquid. Let it cool to room temperature before serving. Jaew bong is served at room temperature, never hot. Spoon it into a small bowl on the khantoke tray alongside sticky rice, raw vegetables, and kab moo. Eat with your hands: tear off a piece of sticky rice, press it into the jaew bong, get a strip of pork skin in the bite. That's how it's done.

Chef Tips

• •Jaew bong is supposed to be sweet. If you taste it and think something's wrong because it's sweeter than other nam priks, nothing's wrong. The Lanna palate leans into sweetness in a way Central Thai cooking doesn't. The palm sugar isn't balancing the heat. The palm sugar IS the backbone, with the smoky chili and chewy pork skin playing against it. Trust the ratio.
• •The pork skin is not optional and it's not a novelty. Nang moo gives jaew bong its signature chewy texture that turns a simple chili paste into something you eat as a dish in its own right. Boil it long enough to be tender, slice it thin enough to fold into the paste, and it becomes part of the structure. Without it, you have nam prik. With it, you have jaew bong.
• •Charcoal roasting gives you a smoke depth that gas flame can't fully replicate. If you have access to charcoal, even a small tabletop grill, use it. The Lanna cooks who make this daily roast over charcoal because the smoke enters the ingredients. Gas flame is acceptable. An oven broiler is not. You need direct fire contact.
• •Serve jaew bong with sticky rice (khao niew), always, never jasmine rice. The stickiness of the rice is what picks up the paste and the pork skin strips. Arrange it on the khantoke tray with raw long beans (thua fak yao), round Thai eggplant (makhuea pro), cucumber, blanched morning glory (pak bung), steamed pak wan (sweet leaf), and kab moo (pork rinds). The kab moo scooped through jaew bong is one of the great bites in Lanna cooking.

Advance Preparation

• •Jaew bong improves with rest. Make it a day ahead and refrigerate. The flavors meld and the pork skin absorbs more of the paste. Bring to room temperature before serving.
• •The pork skin can be boiled and shredded up to 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated in its cooking liquid.
• •The roasted aromatics can be prepared and pounded into paste up to a day ahead. Refrigerate the paste, then combine with pork skin and seasonings when ready to finish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 55g)