Nam Prik Ong

Prep Time: 2-5 min

Cook time: 30-45 min

Serves: 2-4

Description
Nam Prik Ong is a Thai dish that's something like a pork chili con carne, but in Thailand this is used as a dipping sauce for sticky rice and other dippables. This recipe isn't exact, but it does the best it can with a very American list of ingredients to reproduce the original flavors.

Ingredients

 * 1 – 2 yellow onions, diced (add shallots as a variation)
 * 2 – 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
 * 2 tbsp. oil (olive, vegetable or peanut are fine)
 * 1 – 2 scallions, chopped
 * 1 egg
 * 1 lb ground pork
 * 1 – 2 tbsp. garlic chili sauce
 * 1 tsp salt
 * 1 tsp fish sauce (nam pla, which should be available in your market's Asian section and online... Worcestershire sauce makes an acceptable substitute, but won't give the same character)
 * 1 x 12-16 oz can diced tomatoes, drained (for fresh, simply add more cooking time)

Directions

 * 1) In a dutch oven or other pot/pan large enough to hold and cover the ingredients, cook the onions in the oil over med. high heat until they begin to brown.
 * 2) Add the garlic and cook about 30 sec.
 * 3) Add the pork, and continue to mix them together until the pork no longer looks raw (you don't have to fully cook it yet).
 * 4) Add the fish sauce, chili paste and tomato, mix and wait for the mixture to begin to simmer. You should also wait until the pungent aroma of the fish sauce fades, and it will, don't worry.
 * 5) Set the heat to low and cover. Let simmer for 15-30 minutes (the longer you let it go, the more the flavors will combine and develop). If you are using a dutch oven, you can place it, covered, in a 300 degree pre-heated oven for this stage.

Just before serving

 * 1) Lightly beat the egg in a bowl or cup (don't scramble it, just break it up a little bit) and pour it over the simmering Nam Prik Ong.
 * 2) Immediately turn off the heat and stir in the egg. The residual heat will cook the egg nearly instantly.
 * 3) Use the scallions to garnish. Fresh cilantro is also a popular garnish.

Rice
Traditionally, this is served with sticky rice. Sticky rice is a short-grained rice that becomes translucent and very sticky when steamed. It is picked up in small clumps, formed into a disk and tipped into the nam prik ong. If you don't have sticky rice, or don't want to take the time to prepare it, regular long-grain rice will do fine.

If you feel more comfortable eating the rice with utensils, you can simply serve a healthy portion of the Nam Prik Ong over the rice in a bowl and add the scallion garnish.

A slice of lime is a pleasant and traditional accompaniment at the table.


 * Note: This recipe was originally published on the ajs.com Wiki under a CC-By-SA 2.5 license. It is reproduced here by the original author and with permission to distribute under the CC-By-SA license used on this Wiki