Laotians can take any ingredient and make it into a sauce. One of my favorite Lao sauce is jeow het. “Jeow” means sauce and “het” translated means mushroom. To make a Laotian sauce, it begins with roasting or grilling the ingredients. First we grill the chilis, garlic, green onions and mushrooms until they are charred. This is a very important step as charring will make the flavors more intense and adds a rich smokiness.
The ingredients are then pounded together, mixed with some fish sauce and a little salt to add flavor. It really is quite simple to make.
This sauce is best served with sticky rice.
Laotian Spicy Mushroom sauce
- 16 oz white mushrooms chopped in half
- 8 chilis
- 3 cloves garlic unpeeled
- 2 green onions chopped 2 inch pieces
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 T fish sauce
- 1/4 C green onions finely chopped
- 1/4 C cilantro finely chopped
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Grill or broil the ingredients. Flip the ingredients to get it evenly charred. Peel the garlic after it is charred.
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Using a mortar and pestle, pound the chilis, peeled garlic, green onions and salt.
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Add the mushrooms and pound until they are small pieces.
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Add the fish sauce, chopped green onion and cilantro and pound until it is well combined. Serve with sticky rice.
If broiling, the mushrooms will release it's juices. Make sure there is a tray underneath the rack for it to drain.