Nước Chấm Vietnamese dipping sauce

Nuoc cham is a delicious universal Vietnamese dipping sauce that tends to accompany fried spring rolls (Chả giò), pan fried crepes (Bánh xèo) and rice noodle (Bún). But it can aslo be used as a vinaigrette or to dip whole fried fish. The possibiites are endlesss. Every Vietnamese home has their own version of this sauce and ours is a bit different with the additon of our Red Chili sauce.

This condiment is a mixture of fish sauce (nước mắm), garlic, palm sugar, lime juice, a splash of water and bird’s eye chilis. In this case, we substitute the garlic and bird eye chili with our Red Chili sauce. 

The most important element to a good nuoc cham is finding the proper balance of sour, sweet, salty, savory and spicy. By using our Red Chili sauce, our nuoc cham also has a smoky and depth of flavour from the charring of the chilis and addition of tomatoes in our sauce.

Yield: 1 cup (250ml)
Prep Time: 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS​:

• 1/4 cup (60ml) palm sugar
• 2/3 cup (160ml) lukewarm water
• 1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lime juice
• 6 tablespoons (90ml) fish sauce ( Red Boat Fish sauce, Golden Boy)
• 2 tablespoons (30m) Red Chili Sauce
  

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. 1. In a small bowl, add water and sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved.
2. Whisk in lime juice, fish sauce, and TPT Red Chili sauce and stir well. At this point, taste.the sauce and add more sugar if you prefer it to be sweeter.
   
3. ​Serve this dipping sauce with lettuce and other green leafy vegetables, spring rolls, over rice, with Vietnamese bun dishes, meats and seafood.

​Notes:
Its best to make the Nuoc cham at least 3 hours ahead of using as it with allow the flavours to develop.