Sunday, January 17, 2010

Nước Mắm Pha (Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip)


Nước Mắm Pha (Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dip)
Recipe from Ravenous Couple


1/2 cup of water
1 tablespoon rice or plain vinegar (optional)
2 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 Thai chile or Jalapeno
3 clove of garlic, use more or less according to taste
~1/8 cup fish sauce, adjust to taste

  1. Add water and sugar to mix well to dissolve. You can heat the water up before hand to make it dissolve quickly.
  2. Add lime juice and vinegar (optional). It should taste like a very very bland lime-ade.
  3. If you have a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and chilies (if not, finely mince them) together and add to the mixture.
  4. Slowly add the fish sauce a few tablespoons at a time instead of all at once. Taste frequently and stop when you feel it's just right. It's much easier to adjust the flavor of the dipping sauce by adding the fish sauce at the end bit by bit, adjusting to your personal taste.
  5. For a deeper red color, add some chile garlic sauce.

Note: This sauce has a strong fish odor and keeps for a long while.  I store my sauce in old plastic peanut butter jars.  Any jar with a twist on/off lid would work.  I prefer plastic since glass is easier to break.  I also wrap and tie the jar inside a produce bag (the bags you get in the produce section of your local grocery store). Last thing you want to deal with is a fish sauce leak. 

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