5 Most Popular Laos Sauces

Sauces are used in a variety of cuisines, whether for restaurant dishes or traditional recipes. Lao recipes are known for its rich tastes and aroma.

It’s time to learn more about the various types of Laos sauces available at your neighborhood Asian grocery store. Scroll down to continue reading.

Laos Sauces

Jeow Som

Jeow Som is a sour and spicy dipping sauce popular in Laos. It’s a basic dipping sauce that fits with just about anything. You can even dip it with sticky rice, which is a sweet rice. The dipping sauce is a staple of Lao cuisine. Lao people eat grilled meats and vegetables and pair it with this sauce. The sauce captures the perfect combination of sweet, spicy, and sour, but it may be modified to suit your tastes.

Chilli peppers, garlic, cilantro, fish sauce or oyster sauce, sugar, and lime juice are used to make this awesome Lao dipping sauce, jeow som.

Jeow Som Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 Garlic cloves
• 8 Bird’s eye chili or Thai cili peppers
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/cup fish sauce
• Lime juice (2 limes)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

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Jeow Mak Len/Lao Tomato Dipping Sauce

Another popular Lao dipping sauce is Jeow Mak Len. Tomatoes and green onions are roasted until blisters and char appear, then crushed into a sauce using a mortar and pestle. Lime, fish sauce, and cilantro are used to flavor it. This tomato dipping sauce goes well with grilled pork and sticky rice or Khao Niew. It also goes well with steamed or raw veggies, as well as steamed meat. These meals are absolutely delicious with it.

The term Mak Len, literally translates to tomato sauce. Basically, the main ingredients of this tomato dipping sauce are charred tomatoes, chillies, and onions.

Jeow Mak Len Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 Tomatoes
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 shallots
• 3 green onions
• 10 Thai chillies
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. To avoid burning, soak bamboo skewers for at least 20 minutes. Using a skewer, put all of the veggies together. Garlic and shallots should not be peeled.
2. On the grill, roast the vegetables, turning occasionally to ensure that the vegetables are evenly browned. Set aside to cool once roasted.
3. Peel the garlic and shallots and separate the stems from the chilies.
4. Combine the garlic, chiles, shallots, green onions, and salt in a mortar. To make a smooth paste, using a pestle crush the ingredients together until they produce a paste.
5. To extract the tomato juices, crush the tomatoes. It will have the texture of a thick sauce. Then, put the fish sauce, and continue crushing until all the ingredients are blended.
6. Chopped green onions and cilantro are then added on top.

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Jeow Bong Or Jaew Bong

Jeow Bong, commonly known as Luang Prabang chili sauce, is a sweet and delicious Lao chili paste that comes from the city of Luang Prabang in Laos. Jeow Bong is a Laotian dish made with sundried chilies, galangal, garlic, fish sauce, and other seasonings. The addition of chopped water buffalo or pork skin, on the other hand, is what distinguishes it apart.

It’s often eaten by dipping Lao sticky rice or a raw or parboiled vegetable in it. It’s also a sauce for Kaipen, a Lao riverweed snack. Jeow bong has a long life span, does not spoil quickly, and can be spicy or sweet, depending on who produces it. It has a unique flavor that is both sweet and spicy.

Jeow Bong Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sliced pork skin, cooked
• 2 tbsp palm sugar
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1 cup Thai dried chili peppers
• 2 tbsp tamarind juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 cup garlic
• 1/2 cup sliced galangal
• 1 cup peeled shallots

Instructions

1. Fry the shallots, garlic, and galangal until the shallots, garlic, and galangal are browned and roasted thoroughly.
2. Then, roast the Thai dried chilli peppers on a heated pan until aromatic.
3. Place the roasted chiles on a mortar and grind using a pestle.
4. Then, shallots, garlic, and galangal are added on the mortar and continue smashing.
5. Add the palm sugar, tamarind juice, fish sauce, and salt once it has been grounded. Continue to pound until a paste produces.
6. Pork skin should be cut into strips. In a large mixing basin, combine all of the ingredients. Place the paste in the same bowl as the pork skin. Mix everything together.
7. Serve with sticky rice, grilled meat, and fresh vegetables.

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Lao Jeow Het

Lao jeow het is an awesome, savory dipping sauce that is best paired with sticky rice. Sticky rice can turn into a delectable treat. Mushrooms and chilis are the key ingredients in making Jeow het. It has a subtle, earthy flavor with a hint of spiciness. For a balanced dinner, this mushroom-based dipping sauce is usually served with sticky rice and fresh, crunchy vegetables such as Thai egg plant and cucumbers.

Lao Jeow Het Recipe

Ingredients

• 16 ounce chopped mushrooms (cut in half)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 8 chilis
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/4 cup cilantro

Instructions

1. Cook the ingredients on the grill or under the broiler. To ensure that the ingredients are properly charred, turn them. After the garlic has been charred, peel it.
2. Smash the chilis, peeled garlic, green onions, and salt in a mortar and pestle.
3. Add the mushrooms and crush until they are small bits.
4. Mix in the fish sauce, green onion, and cilantro until everything is fully mixed. Serve with a side of sticky rice.

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Jeow Mak Keua

Laotian eggplant sauce with smokey and spicy flavors. It is served with sticky rice, dried meat, or vegetables for dipping. Basically, It’s a smoky eggplant dip with chili, cilantro, and garlic that’s popular in Laos.

Jeow Mak Keua Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 regular eggplant
• 1 red birds eye chili
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 small head thai garlic 2-3 cloves
• 1 small shallot
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
• fish sauce
• 1 chopped green onion

Instructions

1. Pierce holes all over the eggplant using a knife or any sharp utensil.
2. Using the tip of a bamboo skewer, skewer the chile, and the garlic and shallot separately and cook over an open flame. Both an outdoor grill or a gas stove will work. Use a broiler if neither of these are available. Continue until the skin has turned black.
3. Let the vegetables cool before peeling the eggplant. The skins of the garlic and shallot can be squeezed right out.
4. Using a pestle, pound the chile, salt, and garlic together in a mortar.
5. Pound the eggplant and cilantro to form a soft paste.
6. Put in the fish sauce and green onion, and grind. If necessary, add extra fish sauce.
7. Serve with sticky rice, crackers, or pita chips as an accompaniment.