Cooking in
Alberta
Thai · Chiang Mai
Nam Prik Ong — Northern Tomato Relish / น้ำพริกอ่อง
Nam prik ong is the Northern Thai tomato and minced pork relish — one of the great dishes of Lanna cuisine and a cornerstone of the Northern Thai shared-platter tradition (khantoke). Cherry tomatoes are charred directly over flame or in a dry pan until blistered and softened, then pounded with dried chillies, shallots, garlic, and fermented soybean paste into a rough paste. Minced pork is cooked in this paste with the tomatoes until the fat separates and the tomato has reduced into a rich, slightly sweet relish. The result is eaten with fresh raw vegetables (cucumber, cabbage leaves, yard-long beans), sticky rice, and pork rinds. The char on the tomatoes is the critical flavour — un-charred tomatoes produce a flat, generic tomato-pork stir-fry rather than the deep, smoky relish.
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Cook
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
400 g
cherry tomatoes
charred whole over direct flame or in a dry pan until skins blister and darken
Origin · ItalyNot yet stocked in Alberta
250 g
minced pork
Your own market
4
dried red chillies
soaked and drained
Not yet stocked in Alberta
4
shallots
charred in their skins, then peeled
Your own market
4 cloves
garlic
charred in skin, then peeled
Your own market
1 tbsp
fermented soybean paste (tao jiew)
Not yet stocked in Alberta
1 tbsp
fish sauce
to season at the end; adjust to taste
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Place the cherry tomatoes, shallots, and garlic directly over a gas flame or in a dry iron pan over high heat, turning occasionally, so that the fierce dry heat collapses the flesh and drives a deep smokiness into the aromatics that no amount of sautéing can replicate. Continue until the skins are uniformly blistered and darkened in patches. The tomatoes are ready when they collapse slightly and the charred skin lifts easily.
2
Peel the shallots and garlic, then pound the dried chillies first in a heavy mortar until broken down before adding the shallots and garlic — starting with the chillies alone lets them splinter cleanly rather than flying out from beneath wet aromatics. Add the fermented soybean paste (tao jiew) and work it in. The paste is ready when the chillies are fully broken and the aromatics are coarsely amalgamated but not smooth.
From the canon — Tao jiew (Thai yellow bean sauce) is fermented whole soybeans in salty brine — a Chinese-origin condiment fully integrated into the Thai pantry and used in a… Tao Jiew — Thai Fermented Soybean Paste / เต้าเจี้ยว →
3
Transfer the paste to a wok or heavy pan over medium heat with a small amount of rendered pork fat or neutral oil, so the fat carries the fat-soluble heat and fragrance of the chillies through the finished dish rather than letting them sit on the surface. Fry, stirring, until the paste is fragrant and beginning to stick slightly to the pan. Underfry and the relish will taste raw and sharp; go too far and the chilli will turn acrid.
4
Add the minced pork and cook, breaking it up, until no pink remains and the fat has begun to render and pool visibly in the pan, since that pooling fat tells you the meat is properly cooked through and is beginning to fry rather than merely steam in its own moisture. Keep the heat at medium so the meat colours gently and does not tighten into hard grains.
5
Add the charred tomatoes, crushing them roughly into the meat as they go in so that distinct pieces of tomato flesh remain visible and give the finished relish its characteristic body and texture rather than dissolving into a sauce. Cook over medium heat, stirring and pressing, until the mixture has reduced to a concentrated, almost dry relish and the fat separates cleanly around the edges of the pan. The relish is ready when it no longer looks wet and the oil sits clear.
6
Season with fish sauce. Taste for salt, bearing in mind that tao jiew has already contributed salinity, and adjust only if needed. The finished relish should be savoury, slightly sweet from the tomato, and deeply smoky.
From the canon — Fish sauce — nam pla — is the universal salt of the Thai kitchen. Fish Sauce (Nam Pla): Selection and Use →
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Tomatoes, shallots, and garlic charred together in the embers of a charcoal or wood fire; pork from a heritage breed with a high fat ratio; hand-pounded throughout; tao jiew from a small-batch Northern Thai producer.
02
Estate — Tomatoes charred directly over a gas flame; good-quality fresh minced pork with visible fat content; tao jiew sourced from a Thai or Lao producer; hand mortar-and-pestle throughout.
03
Market — Tomatoes charred in a dry cast-iron pan over high heat; standard supermarket minced pork; commercially produced tao jiew; pestle and mortar used for the paste, pan for the rest.
04
House — Tomatoes softened in a dry pan without full char; minced pork blended with fish sauce alone in place of tao jiew; rough paste achieved by a brief pulse in a food processor — acceptable but the Northern soybean note and smoky depth are diminished.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. Tomato skins uniformly blistered and darkened in patches; flesh collapsed and soft before pounding.
◇Sight. Paste is coarse and rough, with visible texture — no smooth, blended consistency.
◇Sight. Fat separates and sits clear around the edges of the finished relish; the mixture is concentrated and nearly dry, not wet or saucy.
◇Smell. Aromatic paste smells toasted and pungent when it begins to catch slightly in the hot pan.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies on the char of the tomatoes: un-charred tomatoes produce a flat, generic tomato-pork stir-fry and none of the deep, smoky complexity that defines nam prik ong.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Bushmills Malt 10 Year Old
Old Bushmills Distillery · County Antrim — Bushmills Distillery
Not yet stocked in Alberta
Whisky
From Alberta
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Without alcohol
Genmaicha — Yamamotoyama Genmaicha Green Tea with Roasted Rice
Yamamotoyama · Uji
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Tea
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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The working kitchen