Home > Thai food recipes > Side Dishes (เครื่องเคียง) > Pork Belly Coated with Salted-Fish and Green Mango Chili Relish (น้ำพริกมะม่วง หมูเคลือบเค็ม พ.ศ. 2476; naam phrik ma muaang mu khleuuap khem)
Pork Belly Coated with Salted-Fish and Green Mango Chili Relish (น้ำพริกมะม่วง หมูเคลือบเค็ม พ.ศ. 2476; naam phrik ma muaang mu khleuuap khem)
In this dish, slices of pork belly are coated with a sticky sauce; the sauce is reduced from braising a slice of grilled salted fish with coriander roots, garlic and white peppercorns (saam gluuhr). The dish is served with a sour-leading green mango chili relish that adds tartness with fiery accents to the saltiness of the pork. The salted fish gives the pork an initial fishy aroma that, although robust, gives way to a sense of home as it merges into the sourness and fruitiness of the mango chili relish. As an ingredient commonly used in the kitchens of rice-growing communities, salted fish signifies a comforting familiarity that conveys simplicity and warmth to the table. I like to pair the salted, fishy pork with seasoned rice dishes in which sour-leading relishes are mixed with rice along with other condiments.
Pork Belly Coated with Salted-Fish and Green Mango Chili Relish (น้ำพริกมะม่วง หมูเคลือบเค็ม สำรับรอบปี, จีบ บุนนาค เจ้าของนามปากกา “หลานแม่ครัวหัวป่าก์” พ.ศ. 2476; naam phrik ma muaang mu khleuuap khem)
In this dish, slices of pork belly are coated with a sticky sauce; the sauce is reduced from braising a slice of grilled salted fish with coriander roots, garlic and white peppercorns (saam gluuhr). The dish is served with a sour-leading green mango chili relish that adds tartness with fiery accents to the saltiness of the pork.
2teaspoondried shrimp pounded to powder (กุ้งแห้งป่น)
1tablespoonThai garlic (กระเทียมไทย)
1/3cupgreen mango (มะม่วงเปรี้ยว)sliced into small pieces
fresh red and green Thai bird’s eye chilies (phrik kee noo) (พริกขี้หนูแดง และ เขียว)
Season with:
1/4partfish sauce (น้ำปลา)
1 1/2partlime juice (น้ำมะนาว)
Mix in:
green mango (มะม่วงเปรี้ยว)shredded into thin elongated pieces
Instructions
Prepare the pork belly
Steam the pork belly over high heat, over a bed of bruised lemongrass to deodorize.
Once the pork belly is fully cooked, let it rest and then slice it into thin elongated pieces. Set aside.
Prepare the salted fish for the sauce
Choose either salted Indian salmon (ปลากุเลา) or salted Spanish mackerel (ปลาอินทรีเค็ม). Rinse the salted fish thoroughly.
Wrap the washed fish in four layers of banana leaves and grill over a bed of sliced fingerroot. Once the outer layer of banana leave is completely charred, remove the fish and set it aside.
Prepare the sauce
To a pot, add water and bring to a boil.
Add the saam gluuhr paste (coriander roots, garlic, white peppercorns).
Add the grilled fish.
Simmer over low heat, allowing the liquids to reduce to a thick sauce. Set aside.
Strain, and set aside.
Coat the pork with the sauce
In a mixing bowl, gradually add the salted fish sauce to the pork to your preferred saltiness and fishy pungency.
For the relish
Peel the green mango and dice it into small cubes. Set aside.
Measure the amount of fermented shrimp paste (kapi), garlic and palm sugar, following the ratios of a standard chili relish recipe (น้ำพริกกะปิมาตรฐาน). Arrange the ingredients next to each other so you can visualize their proportions.
Begin preparing the relish in a mortar and pestle the same way you would a basic chili relish – start by pounding the garlic with the kapi and add dried shrimp powder.
Add the green mango. Using the pestle, mash it into a rough paste.
Taste and season with salt and fish sauce. Once you are satisfied with the saltiness of the relish, add palm sugar at the ratio indicated. Season to a sweet-salty flavor profile.
Season to a sour-leading flavor profile using lime juice, making it slightly more sour to better complement with the salted pork.
Add the fresh chilies. Using the pestle, bruise the chilies to release the desired spiciness.
Mix the chili relish with the pork belly and shredded mango.
Serve
Keyword chili relish, naam phrik, nam prik (น้ำพริก)
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Seasoned rice dishes have been a staple of rice-consuming societies almost since the first grains were cultivated. Adapted according to local resources, traditions and individual preferences, seasoned rice dishes are relished and savored across all walks of life. Within Siamese society, these dishes offer insight into the flavor instincts and eating habits across all demographics, revealing which food items were locally available and valued.
In this delicious seasoned rice recipe from the kitchens of the daughter of King Chulalongkorn, Princess Yaovabha Bongsanid (พระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าเยาวภาพงศ์สนิท) (1884-1934), the Princess uses a variety of common preserved and inexpensive ingredients, clearly drawing inspiration from the cuisine of the Central Plains with nods to the rural and coastal living atmosphere.
Originating in the early 1800s, Metropolitan Chili Relish is cheerful and complex, yet unassuming – a subtly epic relish composed of more than 20 ingredients, some of which are seasonal. The relative absence of this relish from contemporary menus could be attributed to its difficult-to-assemble ingredient list, coupled with a dwindling number of chefs who are adept at its preparation.
However, despite its intricate composition, the relish adheres to the same foundational culinary principles of other shrimp paste (kapi) chili relishes. Here, though, the savoriness is strengthened with smoke-dried fish, grilled shrimp and pork fat crackling; and the relish is seasoned to a citrus-infused, fruity, sour-sweet leading and salty to follow flavor profile, to which numerous sour and sour-sweet elements are mixed in – akin to a deep-rooted tree extending its branches to bear colorful fruits that shine in varying shades of a tartness.
Gaaeng naawk maaw is a light and refreshing soup served at room temperature. The ingredients are meticulously sliced as if for a salad, placed in a serving bowl, and covered with a salty and naturally sweet shrimp broth. At the table, diners can adjust the soup to their preferred flavor profile using granulated sugar, lime juice, or pickled garlic brine; hence the name – gaaeng naawk maaw – which literally means “a curry dish outside the pot” or “to cook curry outside the pot”. (Note: The word gaaeng (แกง) in Thai is both a verb and a noun).
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