
It's a spicy, tangy, herbal, slightly salty, rough paste that is used as a relish and condiment. Always made fresh each day and put on the table the relish is put into soups and stir fries, used to boost up the spice level to your own preference, and served by itself as a garnish for plain or sticky rice.
The best way to get the best consistency to the paste is to do it by hand in a mortar and pestle. Preferably a nice solid one like a Thai mortar and pestle. They are an immense and heavy piece of stone that sits solidly on your counter so that you can let the solid pestle thump satisfactorily down on the ingredients. I realized after reading the recipe that I had the few, simple ingredients growing in my garden. It's easy to make and only takes a few minutes. Time to make the Kua Txob Tuav Xyaw Dos.
Recipe and photos after the jump.
18 stemmed Thai chiles
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 scallions
1/2 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
makes apx. 1/3 cup
Technique: There are basically three ways to use a pestle in your mortar. Grinding in a circular motion, pounding up and down, and a combination of the first two. In this recipe first we will grind, then later pound.

Rough chopped Thia chiles and the green part of scallions.

Chiles and salt in pestle, scallions reserved for later.

Chiles and salt in pestle, ready to grind in circles gently.

Chiles and salt after grinding gently.

Scallions added to the mortar.

Cilantro ready to be rough chopped and added to the mortar.

Kua Txob Tuav Xyaw Dos after gentle up and down pounding.

Kua Txob Tuav Xyaw Dos finished and ready to set out on the table.














