Nam Prik Recipe

Favorite sauce of a sauce-loving people, nam prik in its various versions is what Thais use to season almost everything they eat. Try it as a dip for raw or lightly cooked vegetables, cooked shrimps or prawns, fried fish pieces, wedges of hard-boiled egg. Use white rice to provide a neutral background to the pungency of the sauce.

Ingredients :

2 tablespoons dried shrimps
1 teaspoon dried shrimp paste (kapi)

4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons ground chilies (sambal ulek ) or 2 fresh red chilies
2 teaspoons palm sugar or substitute

2 tablespoons lemon juice
1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons water

Wash shrimps and soak in hot water for 20 minutes. Rinse the shrimps thoroughly. Wrap dried shrimp paste in aluminum foil and put under a hot grill for 3 minutes on each side. Put drained shrimps and dried shrimp paste in blender container with garlic, chilies, sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce and water. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and serve with other ingredients arranged around the sauce.

If blender is not available, use a mortar and pestle to pound the shrimps and garlic. Use sambal ulek instead of chilies. After grilling dried shrimp paste, dissolve in the liquid ingredients, then combine everything.