*  Exported from  MasterCook  *
 
               NUOC CHAM (VIETNAMESE CHILI SAUCE FOR DIPPING)
 
 Recipe By     : 
 Serving Size  : 1    Preparation Time :0:00
 Categories    : Vietnamese                       Condiments
 
   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
 --------  ------------  --------------------------------
    2                    Dried red chilies
    2                    Cloves garlic
      1/2   ts           Sugar
    2       tb           Fish sauce
    1       tb           Vinegar
    1       tb           Lemon juice
 
   The red stuff can be had in stores.  It comes in a clear plastic
   bottle with a green lid and a red rooster on the plastic.  Or in
   smaller glass jars.  It’s called “Tuong ot toi Viet Nam” (tung ot
   toy) and is nothing more than red chiles mashed up with a bit of
   garlic.  You could easily make it by smashing up a handful of the
   little red hot peppers and a couple of cloves of garlic in a mortar
   and pestle.  There’s a similar Filipino sauce called “Sambal
   Oeleck”++virtually the same but with the addition of vinegar. Here’s
   my favorite recipe for nuoc cham. I have some variants if you'd like
   to see those too.  I use it on a lot of stuff++it’s very good with
   poached or white cooked chicken, thousand year eggs, shrimp chips.
   
   Mince chilies and garlic finely and place in a mortar.  Mash with the
   heel of a cleaver or pestle.  Add sugar and stir until it dissolves.
   Add fish sauce, vinegar and lemon juice, stirring between each
   addition. This makes enough for 2 to 4 people.  I almost always
   double the recipe just to make sure there’s enough.  I've kept it for
   long periods of time but unless you freeze it, it’s past it’s prime
   after a few days.
   
   From “Great Asia Steambook” by Irene Wong.  Published by Taylor and
   Ng, distributed by Random House.  1977.  ISBN 0-912738-11-1.
   
   This is a basic chili sauce used for a dip for chicken or whatever.
   Variations of this are found in Cambodia, Thailand and other Southeast
   Asian countries. You can fiddle with it endlessly.  This is a good
   starting point. The proportions shown here produce what I consider a
   mildly warm dip. I generally use two to six times as many chilies,
   depending on their strength and how hot I want it.
   
   VARIATIONS:  Use green serrano chilies instead of dried red ones,
   thinly slice a red or green chili into rounds and toss them in, lime
   juice instead of the lemon juice or palm sugar instead of granulated.
   If you make it in a food processor, don't over process.  It should
   have small chunks of each ingredient rather than being a homogeneous
   liquid. The taste is sour and hot, very puckery.  It’s great with
   poached or steamed chicken, duck or game hens.  Much better with
   basically bland dishes rather than something like curry which has
   it’s own blend of spices. Good with Chinese white-cut chicken or
   Steamed Ginger Chicken with Black Bean sauce. It’s truly addictive
   and I often serve it with meals that are not Oriental in origin.
   Should be good with a firm- fleshed white fish or boiled shrimp or
   crab. Fish sauce is a liquid made with anchovies and salt. It’s not
   really fishy tasting.  Look for it in the oriental section of
   supermarkets or at markets catering to Asian clientele.  Tiparos is a
   good brand made in the Philippines.  I prefer Thai or Vietnamese fish
   sauce, but they'll probably be harder to find. A timesaver is to
   combine large quantities of the liquid ingredients and store them in
   the fridge. Then, when you want some Nuoc Cham, just chop up the
   chilies and garlic, pound them with the sugar and add them to the
   liquid.
   
   Posted by Stephen Ceideburg; March 7 1991.
  
 
 
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