Royal Chili Paste · Sticky Rice Dip

Jeow Bong

Photo: Isan1985 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Despite its blood-red color, jeow bong is often more sweet than spicy — its dried chilies and shredded buffalo skin are fried and caramelized with sugar before being pounded into a paste in a mortar and pestle.

Dried chilies, galangal, garlic, and fish sauce are fried until fragrant, then pounded with shredded buffalo or pork skin and a little sugar into a thick, sticky paste. It's served alongside sticky rice and kaipen for dipping, sold by the jar in Luang Prabang's markets.

Why it's made this way: Recipes for jeow bong appear in the cookbooks of Phia Sing, the last king of Luang Prabang's royal chef, tying the condiment to the city's palace kitchens even as it became an everyday pantry staple across northern Laos.