Northern Chili Dip with Pork (Nam Prik Ong)
A hearty, tomato-red chili dip from Chiang Mai, built on a pounded paste of dried chilies, shallots and garlic, simmered with minced pork and ripe tomatoes until thick and jammy. Served warm with sticky rice and a platter of crisp raw vegetables for scooping.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Soak the chilies
Put the dried chilies in a small bowl, cover with hot water and let them soften for about 10 minutes. Drain well and roughly chop; this softening step is what lets you pound them into a smooth paste instead of a gritty one.
- 10 dried Thai chilies
✅ Done when: the chilies are pliable and bend without snapping
Pound the paste
In a mortar, pound the chilies until broken down, then add the shallots, garlic and toasted in stages, pounding each addition in before adding the next. Keep going until you have a fairly smooth, fibrous paste; a food processor works too, with a splash of water to help it move.
- 10 dried chilies (from step 1)
- 8 shallots
- 10 cloves garlic
- 15 g , toasted
✅ Done when: the paste is uniform in colour with no large chunks of garlic or shallot left
Fry the paste
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Cook the pork
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Add tomatoes
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Season and finish
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Serve the dip
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Soak the chilies
Put the dried chilies in a small bowl, cover with hot water and let them soften for about 10 minutes. Drain well and roughly chop; this softening step is what lets you pound them into a smooth paste instead of a gritty one.
- 10 dried Thai chilies
✅ Done when: the chilies are pliable and bend without snapping
Pound the paste
In a mortar, pound the chilies until broken down, then add the shallots, garlic and toasted in stages, pounding each addition in before adding the next. Keep going until you have a fairly smooth, fibrous paste; a food processor works too, with a splash of water to help it move.
- 10 dried chilies (from step 1)
- 8 shallots
- 10 cloves garlic
- 15 g , toasted
✅ Done when: the paste is uniform in colour with no large chunks of garlic or shallot left
Fry the paste
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Cook the pork
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Add tomatoes
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Season and finish
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Serve the dip
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The Story Behind the Dish
Nam prik ong belongs to the Lanna cooking of Northern Thailand, where meals revolve around a nam prik, a pounded chili dip, served alongside sticky rice and a tray of raw or quickly cooked vegetables rather than a bowl of jasmine rice. Minced pork, ripe tomatoes and dried chilies pounded with garlic and shallots give it its deep red colour and rounded, savoury-sweet flavour.
It is everyday food in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, found at family tables, lunch stalls and festival spreads alongside crispy pork rind, which is traditionally used as a scoop in place of a spoon.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It is one of the signature dishes of Northern Thai cuisine, loved for turning humble pantry ingredients into a rich, slow-cooked dip with real depth of flavour.
💡 Fun Fact
The fermented soybean disc tua nao is a distinctly Northern Thai seasoning, rarely used in the cooking of central or southern Thailand, and gives nam prik ong a savoury depth that is hard to copy without it.
Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand
18.79°N, 98.99°E
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