Recipe - North Thai Tomato- And -Meat Sauce (Nam Prik Ong)

Stephen Ceideburg
One fourth pound Pork tenderloin *
2 teaspoon Vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Minced garlic (3 cloves)
1 lg Shallot, minced
2 Serrano chilies, with seeds,
chopped
1 teaspoon Tiny dried shrimp, minced,
or One half tsp. shrimp paste
1 teaspoon Minced fresh lemon grass **
1 pound Ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
or: ***
One half cup Defatted chicken stock or
water
1 tablespoon Fish sauce
1 teaspoon Sugar

* trimmed of fat and membrane and cut in chunks ** or
1 tsp. dried, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes,
drained and minced *** 1 28oz. can plum
(Italianstyle) tomatoes, drained and chopped

Not unlike a That version of spaghetti sauce, this is
from the regional cuisine of north Thailand. Note:
Dried shrimp and shrimp paste give off a strong aroma
during cooking, but the flavor mellows.

Place pork in a food processor and using an on/off
motion, process until it is ground. Alternatively,
chop pork with a sharp knife. Set aside.

In a heavy, mediumsized saucepan, heat oil over
medium high heat. Add garlic and stirfry for 1 to 2
minutes, or until browned. Add shallots, chilies,
dried shrimp or shrimp paste and lemon grass and
stirfry for 30 seconds. Add the pork and stirfry for
about 1 minute, or until browned. Add tomatoes, stock
or water, fish sauce and sugar and increase the heat
to high. Cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes, or
until the mixture boils vigorously. Reduce heat to low
and simmer, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until
slightly thickened. Serve with sticky rice.

Serves 4 as a main dish or 6 in combination with other
dishes.

64 CALORIES FOR EACH OF 6 SERVINGS: 6 G PROTEIN, 3 G
FAT, 5 G CARBOHYDRATE; 127 MG SODIUM; 15 MG
CHOLESTEROL.

From "Eating Well", Jan/Feb, 1992.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini