Many times people would ask me for a "recipe" of the sauce they see on the table at our restaurant. Some people are addicted to this sauce and put it on pretty much all foods they eat. Our Nam Pla Prik or Prik Nam Pla is just simply a combination of first fish sauce or Nam Pla and Thai Chillies or Prik.
Just chop the chillies into small rings. To handle the chillies, hold the stem and then cut towards the stem. Put those in a bowl and cover with fish sauce. You can also add some thinly sliced shallots and lime juice in there. A splash of lime juice will be plenty for a 1/2 cup sauce. This sauce is great with curry, fried rice, vegetables and noodle dishes. It's just like salt with spice. Chillies get less spicy after sitting in fish sauce for a while so you can actually eat those chillies without numbing your lips. Also, this chili fish sauce mix is great to tone down anything that is too spicy for you to eat, just sprinkle the fish sauce over the rice and the spicy dish, the sauce will bring the spice down a notch and you can eat some more. Salt is the best cure for spicy or hot food. In Thailand, people just take a pinch of salt whenever we eat anything that is super spicy. Salt will cut the oil on your tongue and the heat will disappear so you can eat some more. Try that next time, it works better than milk.
I bought a bunch of thai chilies the other day at Central Market just for this purpose! I agree, it is one of the best condiments in existence. Thanks for the tip on salt, that's good to know.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I've only been to Thai Fresh once (it's far away from my house) but I loved it so much! Have been singing your praises ever since.
Just found your blog and absolutely love it.
ReplyDeleteI made this sauce with a few serrano chilies and it was great. I recently bought about a cup and a half of Thai chilies. This is more sauce than I can eat in a few weeks. How long will this sauce last? Should I refrigerate it?
ReplyDeleteDid you use real fish sauce with anchovies or the sweet version?
ReplyDeleteHi Drew, it's just regular fish sauce, the anchovy super salty kind.
ReplyDeleteAnderson, this sauce will last about a week I would say. You can freeze you Thai chillies. When you are ready to make it the next batch, just bring them out, run through water for a few seconds and they are good as new.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I become so hungry!!!
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