This spicy Asian paste turns rice into snack perfection

The dish: Jeow bong, Laos

Plate up There’s a crossover around the world of sauces or condiments that become dishes of their own. Hummus, covered here recently, is a prime example. It could be used as a spread or an addition to a roll or wrap; yet on its own it’s still spectacular. There’s also taramasalata in Greece, nduja in Italy and dulce de leche in Argentina.

And now we have another to add to the list: jeow bong, a fiery, umami-packed paste from Laos. Jeow bong is a much-loved staple of the Laotian table, a mix of sun-dried chillies, galangal, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, palm sugar and salt, all of which are pounded in a mortar and pestle until they form a thick, rich paste.

But it’s not finished. Because then the jeow gets its signature ingredient: cooked, sliced pork skin, which is added to the paste and pounded until smooth. The result is spicy, sweet, salty and heavily umami, and the perfect accompaniment to a huge wodge of Lao sticky rice, which can be balled up and dipped for snacking perfection.

First serve There’s no definitive history of jeow bong, no agreed timeline or celebrated creator. The dish, in some form or another, has doubtless been around for centuries. We can, however, pinpoint when its popularity began to skyrocket. The notebooks of Phia Sing, a master of ceremonies and chef for the then Lao royal family in Luang Prabang during the mid-20th century, have been preserved and printed as a cookbook called Traditional Recipes of Laos. This is the first recorded mention of jeow bong, and helped to spread the dish’s popularity throughout Laos and the world.

Order there In Luang Prabang, try a range of traditional Lao foods at Manda de Laos (mandadelaos.com).

Order here This can be a hard one to find. In Sydney, you can order excellent jeow bong from Jasmin’s Lao Kitchen (instagram.com/jasminslaokitchen). In Melbourne, the Lao pork sausage banh mi at Ca Com features jeow bong (cacombanhmi.net.au).

One more thing Jeow bong is a dish of its own, but it’s also an important condiment and ingredient in Laotian cooking. It’s often paired with steamed fish, grilled meats, dried river algae called kaipen, or it can be used as a marinade.