This Wed. we are having a Thanksgiving day pot luck at work. I'm to
bring a side dish.
I would like my dish to be something different and maybe a bit out of
the ordinary, and that can be served at room temperature. I know,
picky huh! ;-)
The kitchen gets crowded and busy with everyone needing to get their
dish warmed up.

Here's what I thought I'd do.
In this month's issue of Saveur magazine is a beautiful article on
Laos. In that article is a recipe for Jaew Mak Len, a tomato dip for
vegetables. It's shown served with steamed long bean segments, steamed
wedges of cabbage and raw quartered Thai eggplants.
I thought I'd make a platter of crisp steamed green beans, carrots,
cauliflower and potatoes or what ever other veggies look good.
I also was thinking about tucking in around the veggies some deviled
eggs using some of the Jaew Mak Len in the yolks.

Open for suggestions.

Here's the recipe.
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Lao Tomato Dip (Jaew Mak Len)

sauces/dips

3/4 pound cherry tomatoes
8 cloves garlic; halved
6 Thai chiles; stemmed
2 shallots; halved
1/2 red bell pepper; stemmed and seeded
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Charring the vegetables for this dip is the secret to it's smoky
flavor.

Heat broiler; place a rack 4" from heat source. (Alternately, prepare
a medium-hot charcoal fire; place a vegetable grate over the grill
top.)

Put the tomatoes, garlic, chiles, shallots and red bell pepper on a
foil lined baking sheet (or on grill top if grilling.) broil or grill
vegetables, turning once, until charred, about 8 minutes. Let cool.
Transfer garlic, chiles, shallots and bell pepper to a food processor;
pulse until chopped. Add tomatoes; pulse until just chunky. Transfer
dip to a bowl; stir in chopped cilantro, fish sauce and salt.

Notes: Saveur Magazine Nov 2008 #115

Yield: 4 servings

** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.84 **

koko
There is no love more sincere than the love of food
George Bernard Shaw
www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
updated 11/15