Nuoc Mam (Fish Sauce)

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Anyone who has tried Vietnamese food has definitely used Nuoc Mam as a dipping sauce at one point or another.... it's a sauce Vietnamese people dip everything into! Egg rolls, pork chops, Vietnamese crepes, the list goes on and on. It's a staple in almost every Vietnamese home. Today I made it with my mommy!

Warning: this recipe yields A LOT so cut it down accordingly if you wish! I would say, cut it into 1/4 and you're good for the next MONTH! It's a great sauce because it's super tasty and lasts 3-4 weeks!

Ingredients:
Water
Garlic
Lime
Sugar
Fish Sauce
Chili garlic sauce (optional)

Ratios:
3 parts water (can do 2.5 parts water if you want more intense flavoring)
1 part sugar
1 part fish sauce
1-2 thai chilis to taste
limes to taste - about 1/2-1 limes to taste 
garlic to taste

1. Boil water 
2. Let cool to medium warm. My mom says that if it doesn't cool, it will taste weird.
3. Cut chilis in half lengthwise and then chop or mince them. You can take some seeds out if you don't want it to be too spicy! 
4. Mince several cloves of garlic. About 3-5 cloves, to taste. 
5. Once the water has cooled, add sugar and fish sauce and stir.
6. Add lime to taste - I usually do about 1/2 lime for a 1 cup portion of water. Here’s a nice little trick - to get more juice out of them, microwave the limes a few seconds. That will bring the out juice from the limes.
Optional: 
9. Stir in 1 tablespoon or teaspoon of garlic sweet chili. This will brighten the nuoc mam and make it extra tasty!

I had messed up and put too much lime in my mixture so I had to overcompensate with lots of sugar. So I would start out with 2 limes and re-tasting it. Stir the mixture and keep in the refrigerator!


Hot water, minced red chilis, minced garlic


Cutting the limes. Notice how the cutting preserves the center parts?


Shaving some lime bits into the mixture. This brings out the lime flavor.


Finished product!! 

This sauce should be a little sour, a little salty, and a lot savory!



Mama eating Banh Seo (Vietnamese Crepe - that I made!) with some nuoc mam :)

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