Vietnamese Sauce (Nước Chấm)
Nước Chấm is a sweet and spicy, sour and savory Vietnamese sauce (red chili garlic sauce) that is a staple in Vietnamese cuisine- it works as a dipping sauce for spring rolls, seafood, chicken salad, pork, steak, noodles or for fish. It's 1 of my favorite Vietnamese sauces- in fact, so easy to make at home it's 1 of the first sauces I used to elevate my cooking back in college!
Calories: 126kcal
Equipment
- 1 Knife and cutting board Or mortar and pestle if you want to pound the chili-garlic mix (the traditional Vietnamese way.)
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons white sugar
- 5 Tablespoons hot water
- 1 Thai red chili If you want a super simple (not super authentic but still tasty recipe), you can substitute the red chilies and garlic with Sriracha.
- 1 clove fresh garlic
- 2½ Tablespoons fresh lime juice Or to taste. In a pinch, I've used lemon juice and white rice vinegar as a substitute but nothing beats the taste of fresh lime.
- 3 Tablespoons fish sauce
Instructions
- Mix the sugar and water till the sugar dissolves.
- Add in the minced garlic, minced chilies, followed by the fish sauce and lime juice.
Notes
Variations: you can also add sliced lemongrass, fresh ginger, chili flakes etc
This is a very flexible sauce:
- I find that 1 chili gives it some kick but isn't too spicy. If you like it spicier, you can add an extra chili. If you don't want it spicy, use a big red chili and omit the seeds. (Note that changing the spice level will change the amount of sugar you need to balance the flavors.)
- If you prefer a tangier sauce, add more lime juice.
Nutrition
Calories: 126kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 4244mg | Potassium: 222mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 61IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg