Viet World Kitchen

Fiery Hmong Chile, Cilantro, and Tomato Salsa Recipe

“Whatever I eat, I have to have a little chile with it,” the Hmong farmer’s son told me last Saturday at my local farmer’s market. “Especially with grilled meat, a little chile is so nice.” His sisters standing nearby all nodded in agreement.

I was picking through their pile of hot Thai chiles looking for nice red ones when we started the conversation. Summer is the peak season for Southeast Asian produce and Hmong farmers from California’s Central Valley flush our markets with super fresh leafy greens, all kinds of eggplant, several types of basil, lemongrass, and lots of chiles. I grow my own chiles but they aren’t ripe yet so I lay in a supply grown by the Hmong farmers. (Chiles freeze well so go crazy!)

“What do you do with the chiles?” I asked, thinking of a little something I could serve with our July 4 surf-and-turf grilled dinner. He obliged by describing this recipe, which is essentially like Hmong kua txob tuav xyaw dos (chile mashed with scallion). I know a tad about Hmong cooking this because I researched and wrote a 2007 Saveur article on Hmong farmers and Hmong home cooking. Don’t even try to figure out how to pronounce the Hmong name! Find a Hmong-speaking person to ask.

This is a relish – often described as a salsa by Hmong Americans – and you can serve it along with grilled pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, etc. I particularly like it with Vietnamese grilled lemongrass pork (thit heo nuong xa). If you like, dip a little sticky rice into this fiery masth, or stir it into food. You can just pound the chiles, salt, scallion and cilantro together if you don’t have tomato around. It’s quick and simple everyday Hmong condiment that’s dynamite. Feel free to vary the amount of chiles according to your tolerance for heat.

Makes about 1 cup

18 small or 9 medium Thai chiles, stemmed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons fish sauce
1/2 cup chopped scallion, green part only
1/2 lightly packed cup chopped cilantro
1 cup quartered ripe cherry tomato
Lime juice

1. Put the chiles, salt, and fish sauce into a mortar. With a circular motion of the pestle, crush the ingredients against the sides of the mortar into a rough mixture.

2. Add the scallion and cilantro, and switch to an up and down pounding motion with the pestle to combine the flavors well and reduce the mixture to a damp, rough mixture. Add the cherry tomatoes and lightly pound to combine. Taste and add lime juice as needed for a tart bite. Transfer to a small dish and serve.

Basic Vietnamese Dipping Sauce Recipe (Nuoc Cham)

Every good Vietnamese cook needs to master this dipping sauce. It's used in many dishes to bring all the elements together. However, it can be easily botched, especially if your taste buds are not well versed in balancing subtle nuances between sour, sweet, salty and spicy. Additionally, flavoring with fish sauce is tough if you're not used to working with it everyday, not to mention the fact that fish sauce qualities differ from brand to brand and sometimes from lot to lot!

Growing up, I was given the task of being our family's dipping saucier. We are a serious group of eaters prone to chiding the cook for poor food preparation. So out of self-preservation, I devised the method below that's served me well over the years. Rather than mix everything together at once, I've broken up the process to simplify matters for the taste buds.